Avalanche vs. Lightning, Game 50: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

The last time the Colorado Avalanche were in Tampa Bay, it was a celebration.

Unfortunately, this time they will be without the man who won some hardware in that building.

The Avalanche will be without Cale Makar in a rematch of the Stanley Cup finals from just eight months ago. The reigning Norris Trophy winner took a blatant shot to the head on Tuesday night. He did return to the game, but something must have popped up after the game, and he will miss, at least, the rest of the road trip. Jeff Carter was not suspended for the hit or even fined.

The Avalanche are coming off a disappointing 2-1 overtime loss the Penguins where they blew a late lead. They dominated the majority of the game but could not find the back of the net.

They currently sit third in the Central Division with 58 points.

The Tampa Bay Lightning also sit third in their division, but are much more comfortable, 10 points up on the nearest team. They are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the lowly San Jose Sharks.

This is the first of two matchups between the teams this season. They will meet in Denver next week.

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 – Bowen Byram

Samuel Girard – Erik Johnson

Andreas Englund – Brad Hunt

Kurtis MacDermid

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Pavel Francouz

Expected Tampa Bay Lightning Lines, per PuckPedia.com

Steven Stamkos – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov

Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Alex Killorn

Ross Colton – Nick Paul – Pat Maroon

Vladimir Namestnikov – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Corey Perry

Defense:

Victor Hedman – Zach Bogosian

Mikhail Sergachev – Erik Creak

Ian Cole – Cal Foote

Goalies:

Andrei Vasilevsky

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 23.9%, 9th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 77%, 19th in NHL

Tampa Bay Lightning Power Play: 26%, 3rd in NHL

Tampa Bay Lightning Penalty Kill: 79.6%, 15th in NHL

How to Watch

TV: ESPN

Radio: 92.5 FM Altitude Sports Radio

Game Time: 5:00 PM MST