Bo Byram to make NHL debut tonight for Avs

LOS ANGELES – The Colorado Avalanche will try to get a sweep of their two-game series with the Los Angeles Kings tonight. This is what the lines and D pairs will look like and there is BIG NEWS about a couple of additions to the lineup, one of which might just include the name Bo Byram:

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen

Saad-Kadri-(Double-shifting player, most likely MacKinnon)

Nichushkin-Compher-Donskoi

Jost-Bellemare-Calvert

Defense

Toews-Makar

Girard-Timmins

Graves-Pateryn

Byram

Goalie

Hunter Miska

You read right, Bo Byram will make his NHL debut tonight. Originally, it was believed Byram wouldn’t get his first start until Friday in Anaheim, but Jared Bednar said, basically, “let’s get him goin’ and so it shall be.

Bednar said Byram will probably play with “a little bit of everyone” in the game, as he will again go with a lineup of 11 forwards and seven D. Along with Byram, newcomer Greg Pateryn will make his Avalanche debut. Erik Johnson and Dennis Gilbert will get the night off.

Bednar said he just wants Byram to “play his game”, but that the bottom line for everything is he has to be responsible defensively. He’s not going to play on the

“I walked into the dressing room and the lineup was all the wall there. I’m really excited for tonight,” Byram said. “EJ told me my name was on the board. I didn’t know whether he was kidding or not.”

Byram said he did text his father the news. Byram’s father, Shawn, played briefly in the NHL in the early 1990s.

As for Miska, Bednar said he has good confidence in him, enough to warrant the start. Pavel Francouz remains out with lower-body injury, but he did skate this morning at least, with the team. It remains unclear what his timeline for a return is. Andre Burakovsky also remains out with an upper-body injury, but he skated as well today and Bednar said that “is a step in the right direction.”

The Avs signed a former Penn State goalie Peyton Jones this morning, though he will be immediately assigned to the Colorado Eagles. Here’s more on him.