Projected Lineup: Avalanche vs. Penguins

The Colorado Avalanche begins a five-game homestand this evening at Pepsi Center against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It is the second and final meeting of the year between the two clubs, which saw the Penguins win 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 16 at PPG Paints Arena.
Avs goaltender Pavel Francouz will start in net tonight, playing in only his second game over the past two weeks. He made 32 saves in a 1-0 loss at the New York Islanders in his last outing on Monday.

"We feel like he gives us a good option to win a hockey game," head coach Jared Bednar said of Francouz, who owns an 11-4-1 record, 2.32 goals-against average and .929 save percentage this season. "He hasn't played in a little bit. He's played good when he's been in."
Bednar did not give any other lineup updates following his media availability this morning, so Colorado's exact starting alignment won't be known until closer to game time.
Below is the Avalanche projected lineup versus the Penguins based on the forward combinations and defensive pairings from Thursday's practice. They are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 91 Nazem Kadri - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 81 Vladislav Kamenev
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltender
39 Pavel Francouz
31 Philipp Grubauer
Healthy Scratch: Mark Barberio
Injury Report: Joonas Donskoi (concussion protocol), Colin Wilson (lower body, out indefinitely)