Projected Lineup: Avalanche at Ducks (Jan. 22, 2021)

The Colorado Avalanche takes on the Anaheim Ducks for the first time this season as the clubs meet at Honda Center this evening.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer is expected to start in net for Colorado, which is playing in the second half of a back-to-back set after facing the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at Staples Center. Hunter Miska is likely to be the backup tonight after making his first career NHL start versus the Kings.

This is the first of seven consecutive-day sets that the Avs will play this season. Colorado went 6-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs in the 2019-20 campaign.
The Avs did not hold a morning skate today, so their exact lineup won't be known until closer to game time.
Colorado has gone with an 11-forwards, seven-defensemen lineup for the past two contests and could do so again. Bednar said after the 4-2 loss on Thursday that forward Andre Burakovsky remains out with an upper-body injury won't play in the first game in Anaheim.
Rookie defenseman Bowen Byram made his NHL debut on Thursday, while fellow blueliner Greg Pateryn played his first contest with the Avs after being acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Wild earlier in the week.
The Avalanche plays the Ducks again on Sunday to wrap up its four-game Southern California road trip.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup based on how the club began Thursday's contest in L.A. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
11 Matt Calvert - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 22 Conor Timmins
4 Bowen Byram - 5 Greg Pateryn
27 Ryan Graves
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer (starter)
32 Hunter Miska (backup)
Scratch: Erik Johnson (conditioning due COVID protocol)
Injury Report: Andre Burakovsky (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body)
Taxi Squad: Dennis Gilbert, Martin Kaut, Kiefer Sherwood, Adam Werner