Game 2: Lines and D pairs for Colorado Avalanche against Vegas

Hello from Ball Arena, where the Colorado Avalanche are finishing up their morning skate in preparation for tonight’s Game 2 against the Vegas Golden Knights. Here are the expected lines and D pairs:

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen

Burakovsky-Compher-Donskoi

Saad-Jost-Nichushkin

Ranta-Bellemare-Newhook

D

Toews-Makar

Graves-Girard

Nemeth-Timmins

Grubauer

NOTEBOOK: This will sound weird, but I think the Avs are almost sick of practicing now. They’ve only played one game in the last 10 days. Starting tonight, though, they’ll be back on an every-other-day schedule. … Remember, the game is at 8 p.m. Get those pregame naps in. … As I type, Carl Soderberg is doing post-skate drills with skills coach Shawn Allard. You gotta feel a bit for Carl. He comes over to the Avs at the deadline, probably thinking he’s going to play in the postseason quite a bit, and now he’s a healthy scratch with two rookies (Newhook and Ranta) supplanting him. That’s hockey. … Nathan MacKinnon got passed over for the Ted Lindsay Award. … Mattias Janmark, injured in the Game 1 hit from Ryan Graves, was not on the ice for the Golden Knights at the morning skate.