Avalanche lines and D pairs against Wild tonight

Game number eight on the season for the Avs in just a few hours, at Ball Arena. Remember, starting November 1, you’ll have to bring proof of vaccination, or proof of a negative Covid test within the previous 72 hours, to step foot in the building. And, you’ll have to wear a mask, regardless. Here are the Avalanche lines and D pairs for the contest against the Wild, as confirmed by the team:

92 Gabriel Landeskog – 29 Nathan MacKinnon – 95 Andre Burakovsky
75 Sampo Ranta – 91 Nazem Kadri – 25 Logan O’Connor
17 Tyson Jost – 37 J.T. Compher – 61 Martin Kaut
43 Darren Helm – 12 Jayson Megna – 26 Jacob MacDonald

Defensemen

4 Bo Byram – 8 Cale Makar
49 Sam Girard – 6 Erik Johnson
3 Jack Johnson – 28 Ryan Murray

Goaltenders

35 Darcy Kuemper
31 Jonas Johannsson

So, same forward group as the game the other night in St. Louis, but a different defense, with Sam Girard back in the lineup. Another start for Darcy Kuemper too. He’s started seven of the eight games so far.

According to Wild beat reporter Sarah McLellan of the Star-Tribune (one of the three U.S. reporters who went to the Edmonton bubble for the playoffs in 2020, with yours truly being another, and NO I’m never going to stop bragging about this), this is the Wild lineup for tonight:

New look for #mnwild this morning ahead of facing the #Avs:

Kaprizov-Eriksson Ek-Foligno
Fiala-Gaudreau-Hartman
Duhaime-Sturm-Bjugstad
Beckman-Dewar-Rau
Kulikov-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Merrill-Addison

Rask the extra forward. Goligoski (upper-body injury) skating with Benn.

— Sarah McLellan (@sarah__mclellan) October 30, 2021