Projected Lineup: Avalanche vs. Wild (Feb. 2, 2021)

Sheldon Dries will play in his first game of the season this evening when the Colorado Avalanche hosts the Minnesota Wild at Ball Arena.
Dries has played 45 NHL games with the Avalanche over the last two campaigns, recording six points (three goals, three assists). Last year, he spent most of the season with the American Hockey League's Colorado Eagles and had 35 points (21 goals, 14 assists) in 50 contests before joining the Avs in the playoff bubble in Edmonton, Alberta.

Dries will be on Colorado's fourth line between Logan O'Connor and Kiefer Sherwood. The top trio for the Avs will have J.T. Compher centering Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, as Nathan MacKinnon is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Tyson Jost will move to a line with Valeri Nichushkin and Joonas Donskoi, while the Brandon Saad-Nazem Kadri-Andre Burakovsky line will remain the same.
On defense, the same six skaters will play as they did in Colorado's last game on Sunday in Minnesota. Bowen Byram and Cale Makar will begin the outing on a pairing, as will Conor Timmins and Samuel Girard, and Jacob MacDonald and Ryan Graves.
Philipp Grubauer will be in goal for the Avalanche to make his ninth start of the year. He led all NHL netminders with six wins in the month of January and his two shutouts tied for the league lead last month. He ranks fifth in goals-against average (1.75) and ninth in save percentage (.930).
Tonight's game is the third of four straight meetings between Colorado and Minnesota. The Avs won the first matchup 5-1 on Saturday and fell 4-3 in overtime on Sunday.
Colorado has points in a season-best four straight games (3-0-1) and has won three straight home games, outscoring the opposition 18-3 in that span.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 37 J.T. Compher - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 17 Tyson Jost - 72 Joonas Donskoi
44 Kiefer Sherwood - 15 Sheldon Dries - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
4 Bowen Byram - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 22 Conor Timmins
27 Ryan Graves - 34 Jacob MacDonald
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
32 Hunter Miska
Injury Report: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (lower body), Matt Calvert (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Erik Johnson (upper body), Nathan MacKinnon (lower body), Devon Toews (lower body)
Taxi Squad:Shane Bowers, Greg Pateryn, Adam Werner