After a disappointing game against the Leafs, Colorado looks to pick up two points against the Sens.
After a disappointing end against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, Colorado gets the chance to bounce back tonight against the Ottawa Senators on the second leg of a back-to-back. This will be the second and last regular-season matchup between these two teams, with the Colorado Avalanche winning the first game by a final score of 5-4.
Colorado Avalanche
The Avs head into Ottawa tonight off of a loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, in which a fluky bounce on the game-winning goal ultimately decided the outcome. Colorado played well in this game for the most part, but they were unable to solve Joseph Woll despite putting up 39 shots on goal.
While this is certainly easier said than done, especially on the second leg of a back-to-back, Colorado will need to generate that volume of chances here tonight against the Senators, who have been rolling lately. If last night’s changes were any indication of how Jared Bednar wants to accomplish this, the lines may look like this:
Projected Lineup
Valeri Nichushkin – Nathan MacKinnon – Brock Nelson
Artturi Lehkonen – Charlie Coyle – Martin Necas
Jonathan Drouin – Jack Drury – Ross Colton
Joel Kiviranta – Parker Kelly – Logan O’Connor
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Ryan Lindgren – Sam Malinski
Samuel Girard – Erik Johnson
Ottawa Senators
As previously mentioned, the Ottawa Senators have been rolling lately, having won seven of their last ten games. Right now, the Senators are occupying the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
A lot of NHL fans didn’t expect this Sens team to make noise in the playoffs this season, especially after last year, but they’ve been able to climb the ranks and have found themselves in a playoff spot this year. The goal now becomes to hang onto that wild card spot as other teams in the East continue to make their pushes to make the playoffs.
Projected Lineup
Brady Tkachuk – Tim Stützle – Claude Giroux
David Perron – Dylan Cozens – Drake Batherson
Ridley Greig – Shane Pinto – Michael Amadio
Matthew Highmore – Adam Gaudette – Fabian Zetterlund
Jake Sanderson – Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot – Travis Hamonic
Tyler Kleven – Nikolas Matinpalo
Goaltenders
For Colorado, it will likely be Scott Wedgewood going in net tonight after Mackenzie Blackwood got over being under the weather and got the start last night. Wedgewood was really solid in the handful of games he had to play while Blackwood was feeling sick For Ottawa, Linus Ullmark will likely get the start, and going toe-to-toe with him will be no small feat for Scott Wedgewood, but he should be up to the task given his recent play.