Avalanche Lines, D Pairs And Goalie Vs. Flyers; Betting Lines

Jared Bednar wants to stay with the hot hand in goal, which is why Pavel Francouz will get a second straight start tonight, against the Philadelphia Flyers.

That was the somewhat surprising news to come out of the Avalanche morning skate, in preparation for tonight’s rematch with the Fly Guys (7 p.m., Altitude). There is nothing physically wrong with Alexandar Georgiev, just a coach’s choice here.

Bednar is really looking for a harder-working effort than he got against the Flyers last week. One of the things that Bednar really emphasized in his morning meeting with the team, he said, was fighting through the Philly forechecking, and also the heavy checking presence in the neutral zone. His team needs to get more offensive zone time than it had in the loss in Philly, so he’s putting a premium on just plain, old hard work tonight.

Based on what I saw at the skate, these are your Avalanche line combos and D partners for tonight:

Lehkonen-Rantanen-Nichushkin

Cogliano-Compher-O’Connor

Hudon-Meyers-Foudy

D. Hunt-Newhook-MacDonald

D

Girard-Makar

Toews-Johnson

B. Hunt-Englund

Francouz

NOTEBOOK: Today is the two-year anniversary of the death of Avalanche icon Pierre Lacroix. His wife, Colombe, and son, Eric, were at the rink this morning. Eric has been doing more TV studio work with Altitude, which has been nice to see. … Evan Rodrigues skated again today, but in a non-contact jersey. He won’t play tonight, but he’s getting real close. … Bednar said on his Altitude radio show today that Darren Helm may have had another setback and might be another week or two away. And, there is also no timetable still on Bo Byram. … Here is some lineup info on the Flyers, from our sister site in Philly. … Avalanche are -220 favorites to win outright at SuperBook Colorado. Get a first-bet bonus of up to $1,000 here.