The Colorado Avalanche look to get back on track on Monday as the Pittsburgh Penguins come to town. The Avs’ lackluster performance will need to be turned around against the Pens, who came from behind on Saturday. Will we see any adjustments to the lineup? Or will head coach Jared Bednar stick to the system and see if it works.

Colorado Avalanche (44–12–9, 97 pts)

The Avalanche beat themselves on Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg, losing 3–1. Colorado was turning over the puck and failing to get to the front of the net for rebounds. It led to spoiled chance after spoiled chance for the Avs. There were a couple of positives that came out of the game on Saturday. One was that the Avs scored for the first time in five contests in Winnipeg dating back to 2023. Martin Necas scored the goal with the assist coming from Nathan MacKinnon. The other was that Brent Burns played his 990th consecutive game, passing Keith Yandle for the second longest ironman streak in the NHL. Burns now only trails Phil Kessel, who has played 1,064 consecutive games.

Projected Lines

Nazem Kadri – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Nicolas Roy – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Joel Kiviranta
Gavin Brindley – Zakhar Bardakov – Nick Blankenburg

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood

Pittsburgh Penguins (33–15–18, 81 pts)

It has been a strange season for the Penguins; they have fallen out of the playoff race and now sit in second place in the Metro. They are holding their own without their captain, Sidney Crosby, in the lineup. Evgeni Malkin and recent addition Samuel Girard are both out with injuries as well. But the Penguins are 4–3–3 in their last 10, winning on Saturday in Utah 4–3.

Projected Lines

Egor Chinakhov – Rickard Rakell – Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Avery Hayes
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

Parker Wotherspoon – Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea – Kris Letang
Ilya Solovyov – Connor Clifton

Stuart Skinner
Arturs Silovs

Game Details

Time: 7:30 p.m. MT

Watch: ESPN

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950