Pavel Francouz in net for Avs tonight in Arizona

As the headline says, Pavel Francouz is the man in goal for the Colorado Avalanche tonight, when they play the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena. Good seats still available, I’m told.

Frankie gets the start in Colorado’s attempt to get revenge on the Coyotes for that shootout loss at home right before the NHL all-star break. I expect an Avs team hungry to put Arizona back in its place tonight, though this could be another letdown game. Nobody shows up in Arizona for the games, so it’s not a great atmosphere for teams to get fired up.

Valeri Nichushkin won’t play again, because of his upper-body injury. Jared Bednar said Nichushkin is “day-to-day” (aren’t we all).

Bednar said it’ll be the same lineup for the Avs as the other night against the Islanders, with Frankie the lone exception.

Karel Vejmelka will start in goal for the Coyotes. The Avs are whopping -380 favorites to win on the moneyline at SuperBook Colorado (that means you’d have to bet $380 to win $100 in profit). A better payout is taking the Avs at -135 on the puck line, which means a team has to win by two or more goals. You’d only have to bet $135 to win $100 in profit.