Avalanche vs. Capitals, Game 46: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

The Colorado Avalanche look to keep things rolling at home. They’ll have to do it without their top defenseman…again.

On a five game winning streak, and coming off a gutsy win over the Seattle Kraken, the Avalanche will take on the Washington Capitals. It’s their first of three home games at Ball Arena before the All-Star break.

Cale Makar, once again, took morning skate, but isn’t ready to play just yet. He had a long talk with Jared Bednar during skate, and seemed to tell him he’s not ready just yet. Makar spoke to the media yesterday and reiterated he doesn’t want these issues lingering later in the season.

The previously cold offense has come alive, with the Avalanche having scored 23 goals in the last five games. In that same span, they’ve only allowed six goals.

The Capitals come to town after a tough 6-2 loss in Vegas. They played that game without their captain Alex Ovechkin, and he’s listed as a game-time decision tonight. With 56 points, they sit firmly in a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

This is the second and final meeting between the teams this year. The Avalanche shut out the Capitals back in November.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Evan Rodrigues

Valeri Nichushkin – J.T. Compher – Mikko Rantanen

Andrew Cogliano – Alex Newhook – Logan O’Connor

Anton Blidh – Ben Meyers

Defense

Devon Toews – Erik Johnson

Samuel Girard – Brad Hunt

Kurtis MacDermid – Jacob MacDonald

Andreas Englund

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Pavel Francouz

Expected Washington Capitals Lines, per WashingtonHockeyNow.com

Anthony Mantha-Dylan Strome-Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Sonny Milano-Nicklas Backstrom-Tom Wilson

Conor Sheary-Lars Eller-T.J. Oshie

Marcus Johansson-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Garnet Hathaway

Defense:

Erik Gustafsson-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Dmitry Orlov-Nick Jensen

Alex Alexeyev-Martin Fehervary

Goalies:

Darcy Kuemper

Charlie Lindgren

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 24.5%, 9th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 76.6%, 20th in NHL

Washington Capitals Power Play: 20.5%, 19th in NHL

Washington Capitals Penalty Kill: 81.6%, 7th  in NHL

How to Watch

TV: ESPN+, Altitude TV, NBCS

Radio: 92.5 FM Altitude Sports Radio

Game Time: 7:00 PM MST