Projected Lineup: Avalanche at Blues (April 26, 2021)

Goaltender Jonas Johansson will get the start in net tonight as the Colorado Avalanche concludes its season series against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center.
Johansson will be making his first appearance since stopping 24-of-25 shots in a victory at the Anaheim Ducks on April 11. Acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on March 20, Johansson owns a 3-0-1 record, 1.72 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and one shutout in four starts with Colorado.

Usual starter Philipp Grubauer has joined the club in St. Louis after being removed from the NHL's COVID-protocol list on Friday, but the netminder won't suit up this evening. Devan Dubnyk will be the backup keeper to Johansson after starting the past two contests.
The Avalanche will make some changes to its forward combinations for tonight matchup as head coach Jared Bednar said after morning skate that Brandon Saad will be out two-to-four weeks with a lower-body injury suffered in Saturday's outing in St. Louis. For Saad, it will be the first game he's missed this season due to injury.
Bednar said Carl Soderberg will take Saad's spot on a line with Tyson Jost and Valeri Nichushkin, while Martin Kaut will move up to Soderberg's previous line with J.T. Compher and Nazem Kadri.
Kiefer Sherwood will enter the lineup on Colorado's fourth combo with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Liam O'Brien. Sherwood last played on April 2 at home against the Blues.
St. Louis defeated the Avs 5-3 on Saturday afternoon in the second of three-straight matchups between the clubs, ending Colorado's five-game winning streak.
The Avs own a 5-2-0 record against the Blues this season, their most wins in a single campaign against the club from Missouri.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup for tonight's game in St. Louis. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 95 Andre Burakovsky
34 Carl Soderberg - 17 Tyson Jost - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
37 J.T. Compher - 91 Nazem Kadri - 61 Martin Kaut
38 Liam O'Brien - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 44 Kiefer Sherwood
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 7 Devon Toews
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
24 Patrik Nemeth - 22 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
35 Jonas Johansson
40 Devan Dubnyk
Taxi Squad: Kyle Burroughs, Peyton Jones, Keaton Middleton, Dan Renouf, Miikka Salomaki, Adam Werner
Injury Report: Bowen Byram (upper body & COVID protocol-related absence), Matt Calvert (upper body), Joonas Donskoi (COVID protocol-related absence), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Philipp Grubauer (COVID protocol-related absence), Erik Johnson (upper body), Jacob MacDonald (lower body), Logan O'Connor (lower body), Mikko Rantanen (COVID protocol-related absence), Brandon Saad (lower body)