Avalanche vs. Blackhawks, Game 4: Lines, Starting Goalies & How to Watch

It’s finally home opener night, as the Colorado Avalanche will take on the Chicago Blackhawks at Ball Arena Thursday evening.

It’s also the last of these absurdly late start times…for a few weeks.

The Avalanche are unbeaten right now, while the Blackhawks are off to a surprisingly strong start at 2-2. Jared Bednar described the Blackhawks style as a bit “run and gun,” which is why he’s going back to his original lines.

Jonathan Drouin will return to the top line, with Valeri Nichushkin dropping down to play with Ryan Johansen. There will almost certainly be mixing and matching throughout the game, but this is what they’ll start with.

This will be the first look up close for the Avalanche of Blackhawks superstar Connor Bedard. With the game being broadcast on ESPN, he’ll get a lot of attention, but he’s pretty deserving of it.

“He’s an elite talent, right?” Bednar said of Bedard (that’s a mouthful). “If you look at him at this point in the season, he’s generating as much offense as any other player in the league. Their team has been doing a nice job of creating offense.”

Colorado is off to a great start, and a big reason for that is the play of Alexandar Georgiev. Jared Bednar knows his team has another gear they can hit.

”No question, we have another level,” Bednar said. “Everyone’s going to start dialing it in and tuning it up as the season goes on. A lot of new faces. I’m relaxed with it, I feel, but we’ve got to see more. We have to see more from some of the new guys, from some of the guys that have been here, but at the same time, we’re seeing flashes of what I think we can become with just a little bit more consistency.”

The Blackhawks have been led offensively by Corey Perry, who has four points in their first four games. Bedard has three points to date, but has already registered 20 shots on goal.

Petr Mrazek is expected to start in net for Chicago.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Jonathan Drouin – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Artturi Lehkonen – Ryan Johansen – Valeri Nichushkin

Miles Wood – Ross Colton – Tomas Tatar

Andrew Cogliano – Fredrik Olofsson – Logan O’Connor

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Sam Girard – Bowen Byram

Jack Johnson – Josh Manson

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Ivan Prosvetov

Expected Chicago Blackhawks Lineup

Hall – Bedard – Donato

Johnson – Reichel – Raddysh

Foligno – Dickinson – Perry

Katchouk – Entwistle – Athanasiou
Defense:

Vlasic – Jones

Korchinski – Murphy

Kaiser – Zaitsev

Goalie:

Petr Mrazek (confirmed)

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 10%, 23rd in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 100%, 1st in NHL

Chicago Blackhawks Power Play: 5.6%, 27th in NHL

Chicago Blackhawks Penalty Kill: 100%, 1st in NHL

How to Watch

TV: ESPN, ESPN+

Radio: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5

Game Time: 8:30 PM MST