Avalanche vs. Penguins, Game 49: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

When the Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins face-off, there’s only one thing anybody ever wants to talk about.

Sidney Crosby vs Nathan MacKinnon.

The two Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia natives will face-off yet again on Tuesday night when their teams face each other. For MacKinnon, he will get some help in the form of players returning from injury.

Bowen Byram, who has not played since Nov. 4, will return to the lineup on defense for the Avalanche. The 21 year old has been dealing with a lower body injury, but has been pushing hard the last several weeks to get back in the lineup.

He’s not the only one returning. The team will get Valeri Nichushkin back as well, after a two game absence from an upper body injury. He practiced on MacKinnon’s line at practice Monday, but things are always subject to change there.

Tuesday will also mark the return of Evan Rodrigues to Pittsburgh. He left via free agency after scoring 43 points for the Penguins last season.

Pavel Francouz will start in net for the Avalanche.

The Penguins currently hold the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but have several teams on their heels. Crosby leads the team in scoring with 60 points, while the other legend in the lineup, Evgeni Malkin, sits just behind him with 50.

This is the first of two matchups between the teams this season.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Valeri Nichushkin

Evan Rodrigues – J.T. Compher – Mikko Rantanen

Matt Nieto – Alex Newhook – Denis Malgin

Logan O’Connor – Andrew Cogliano

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Samuel Girard – Erik Johnson

Bowen Byram – Brad Hunt

Kurtis MacDermid

Goalies

Pavel Francouz

Alexandar Georgiev

Expected Pittsburgh Penguins Lines, per PittsburghHockeyNow.com

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell

Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust

Brock McGinn-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen

Ryan Poehling-Teddy Blueger-Josh Archibald

Defense:

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry

P.O Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies:

Casey DeSmith

Dustin Tokarski

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 24.5%, 8th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 76.8%, 20th in NHL

Pittsburgh Penguins Power Play: 22.7%, 14th in NHL

Pittsburgh Penguins Penalty Kill: 81.1%, 9th in NHL

How to Watch

TV: Altitude 2, ESPN+

Radio: 92.5 FM Altitude Sports Radio

Game Time: 5:00 PM MST