The first-place Colorado Avalanche will take on the last-place Nashville Predators on Tuesday night. Progress in Smashville has been less straightforward than it has been in Denver. The Predators have accumulated only 24 points in 28 matches, placing them at the bottom of the division and the league. On paper, they have a stacked top-six. However, their performance falls short. On Saturday, the Avalanche sent goaltender Trent Miner back to the Colorado Eagles, so Scott Wedgewood will be available. Gavin Brindley is likely to return to the lineup on Tuesday with Martin Necas feeling under the weather earlier in the day.

Colorado Avalanche (21–2–6, 48 pts)

The Philadelphia Flyers met the Avalanche during a morning contest on the second contest of consecutive contests. Sean Couturier opened the scoring two minutes into the first period. Brent Burns responded for the Avs six minutes later, scoring the ninth-most goals by a defenseman in NHL history. He would pass Nicklas LidstrΓΆm in doing so. The highlight of the day would be Brock Nelson, who converted on the power play, giving the Avs only their 16th power-play goal of the season. Mackenzie Blackwood was solid in net, playing on consecutive days and stopping 23 of 25 shots on net. This would include a penalty shot by Trevor Zegras, where Blackwood stonewalled him to maintain the lead.

Projected Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Gabriel Landeskog
Ross Colton – Brock Nelson – Victor Olofsson
Valeri Nichushkin – Jack Drury – Joel Kivirantan
Parker Kelly – Zakhar Bardakov – Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Samuel Girard – Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood

Nashville Predators (10–14–4, 24 pts)

Nashville last played the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, losing 6–3. Predators struggled to avoid penalties during the opening period, paying the price. The Canes would score two power play goals in less than two minutes to start the game. Carolina tacked on three more goals before the Predators could answer back, but it was too late. Goaltender Brandon Bussi was just too much for Nashville, winning his eighth game in only nine starts and just the eighth rookie goaltender to accomplish the feat.

Projected Lines

Steven Stamkos – Ryan O’Reilly – Luke Evangelista
Filip Forsberg – Erik Haula – Jonathan Marchessault
Reid Schaefer – Fedor Svechkov – Matthew Wood
Michael Bunting – Tyson Jost – Michael McCarron

Nicolas Hague – Roman Josi
Brady Skjei – Adam Wilsby
Spencer Stastney – Nick Blankenburg

Juuse Saros
Justus Annunen

Game Details

Time: 7:30 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX (Out of Market)

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950