Projected Lineup: Avalanche vs. Coyotes (March 8, 2021)

The Colorado Avalanche will make a few changes to its lineup this evening when it takes on the Arizona Coyotes at Ball Arena.
Matt Calvert will return to the lineup after missing the past six games with an upper-body injury. He'll replace Kiefer Sherwood on the fourth line and will skate with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Logan O'Connor in the outing.
On defense, rookie Conor Timmins will miss the outing with an upper-body injury and Greg Pateryn will be play his fourth game of the year with the Avalanche. Pateryn has skated in 273 NHL contests in his career and has four goals and 37 assists.

Philipp Grubauer was the first goaltender off the ice and is expected to start in net. He is tied for second among NHL netminders in both wins (12) and shutouts (three) and ranks sixth in goals-against average (2.06). His three shutouts this year have already tied his career high (fourth time).
Nathan MacKinnon was a non-contact participant in Colorado's morning session today, and head coach Jared Bednar said afterward that the forwarrd is doing well in his recovery from an upper-body injury but will not dress this evening.
Tonight is the third of eight meetings between Colorado and Arizona and the first of four at Ball Arena. The Avs won the first two matchups with a sweep in a back-to-back set against the Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Feb. 26-27.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 96 Mikko Rantanen - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
17 Tyson Jost - 12 Jayson Megna - 72 Joonas Donskoi
11 Matt Calvert - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
2 Dan Renouf - 7 Devon Toews
49 Samuel Girard - 34 Jacob MacDonald
27 Ryan Graves - 5 Greg Pateryn
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
32 Hunter Miska
Taxi Squad:Peyton Jones, Kiefer Sherwood
Injury Update:Bowen Byram (upper body), J.T. Compher (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Dennis Gilbert (upper body), Erik Johnson (upper body), Nathan MacKinnon (upper body), Cale Makar (upper body), Conor Timmins (upper body)