Avalanche vs. Ducks, Game 47: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

The Colorado Avalanche will look to make it seven straight wins on Thursday night against the Anaheim Ducks. They’ll do so with a pretty different lineup than they had just two days ago.

Matt Nieto, acquired last night from the San Jose Sharks, will be in the lineup for the Avalanche. He played for the team over the course of four different seasons, before leaving as a free agent in 2020. With 15 points in 45 games this season, he’ll bolster the bottom six forward group for the rest of the year.

In addition, the Avalanche will get Cale Makar and Denis Malgin back in the lineup. Makar had missed the previous four games with an upper body injury. Malgin has been out since early January with an upper body injury of his own.

The news was not all good, however, as Valeri Nichushkin will not play due to an upper body injury. He is considered day to day at this point.

Pavel Francouz is expected to start in net.

It’s been a tough season for the Anaheim Ducks. They have lost six of they last eight games, and with 33 points on the year, sit in second to last place in the NHL. They are led by DU alum Troy Terry and exciting young forward Trevor Zegras.

This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Evan Rodrigues

Matt Nieto – J.T. Compher – Mikko Rantanen

Andrew Cogliano – Alex Newhook – Logan O’Connor

Denis Malgin – Ben Meyers

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Samuel Girard – Erik Johnson

Kurtis MacDermid – Brad Hunt

Andreas Englund

Goalies

Pavel Francouz

Alexandar Georgiev

Expected Anaheim Ducks Lines, per PuckPedia.com

Adam Henrique – Mason McTavish – Troy Terry

Max Comtois – Trevor Zegras – Ryan Strome

Frank Vatrano – Isac Lundestrom – Jakob Silfverberg

Max Jones – Jayson Megna – Sam Carrick

Defense:

Cam Fowler – Dmitri Kulikov

Simon Benoit – Colton White

Urho Vaakanainen – John Klingberg

Goalies:

John Gibson

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 24.5%, 7th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 76.9%, 20th in NHL

Anaheim Ducks Power Play: 16.5%, 28th in NHL

Anaheim Ducks Penalty Kill: 72%, 30th in NHL

How to Watch

TV: ESPN+, Altitude TV, Bally Sports West

Radio: 92.5 FM Altitude Sports Radio

Game Time: 7:00 PM MST