Colorado is in the middle of a four-games-in-six-nights stretch and turns to Miska to give Grubauer a bit of a break during this 56-game season. Grubauer played in each of the first three contests of the campaign, and Pavel Francouz is currently out after suffering a lower-body injury during Monday's practice. Grubauer will be the backup this evening.
Miska recorded a 16-6-3 record, 2.48 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in 26 games last season with the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League. He also joined the Avs in the 2020 playoffs in Edmonton and served as the backup goaltender in the final three contests of the team's second-round series against the Dallas Stars.
On defense, rookie Bowen Byram will make his NHL debut and Greg Pateryn will skate in his first game as a member of the Avalanche. The squad will once again use an 11-forwards and seven-defensemen lineup.
Byram was selected at No. 4 overall by the Avs in the 2019 NHL Draft and won a silver medal earlier this month as a co-captain with Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship. He led his country in average ice time (22:59) and all team defensemen with five points (one goal, four assists), being named one of the top three players on the squad and earning all-tournament team honors.
The 19-year-old has played the previous three seasons with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League, which included leading all league defensemen in goals (26) after producing 71 points in 2018-19. He recorded 52 points (14 goals and 38 assists) in 50 games with the Giants last season.
Pateryn joined Colorado on Tuesday in a trade with the Minnesota Wild. The 30-year-old has 41 points (four goals, 37 assists) in 270 career NHL contests and had two assists in three games with the Wild this season. He will likely spend most of the evening on a defensive pairing with rookie Conor Timmins.
The Avs will likely use the same forward combinations as they did to finish Tuesday night's contest at the Kings, a 3-1 victory, with Valeri Nichushkin skating on a line with Nazem Kadri and Brandon Saad.
Forward Andre Burakovsky took part in today's optional morning skate but probably won't dress while he continues to recover from a minor upper-body injury. He missed his first game of the year on Tuesday in L.A.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup for tonight's game at the Kings. 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
27 Ryan Graves - 49 Samuel Girard
5 Greg Pateryn - 22 Conor Timmins
4 Bowen Byram
Goaltenders
32 Hunter Miska (starter)
31 Philipp Grubauer (backup)
Healthy Scratch: Erik Johnson
Injury Report: Andre Burakovsky (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body)
Taxi Squad: Dennis Gilbert, Martin Kaut, Kiefer Sherwood, Adam Werner
