Avalanche vs. Panthers, Game 40: Lines, Starting Goalies & How To Watch

It’s possible both teams will be missing key players when the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers face-off on Saturday afternoon.

We know the Avalanche will certainly be without Bowen Byram when they host the Panthers. The young defenseman left Thursday’s game against the Stars due to a lower-body injury, and Jared Bednar confirmed he will not play today. Late last night, Colorado placed Byram on IR, which means he has to miss at least a week. That means the earliest he can return is Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Expect Caleb Jones to fill his spot on the blueline.

The Avalanche also recalled Ben Meyers, so it’s safe to assume he will be in the lineup against the Panthers. Will he just replace Kurtis MacDermid, or is there another injury we’re not aware of? We’ll find out during warm-ups, because neither team is holding a morning skate with the early start.

We also don’t know who will start in net for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev has been workhorse lately, but they need to give him a night off at some point. Perhaps a game against an Eastern Conference opponent is a good chance to get Ivan Prosvetov a start.

As for the Panthers, both Evan Rodrigues and Alex Barkov are game-time decisions. Paul Maurice said he’s confident both will be able to play, but we’ll see come game-time. Rodrigues has been an excellent addition to the Panthers lineup, picking up 24 points in 38 games on their top line.

Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net against the Avalanche.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Jonathan Drouin – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Miles Wood – Ryan Johansen – Valeri Nichushkin

Ben Meyers – Ross Colton – Logan O’Connor

Andrew Cogliano – Fredrik Olofsson – Joel Kiviranta

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Sam Girard –  Josh Manson

Jack Johnson – Caleb Jones

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Expected Florida Panthers Lineup

Verhaeghe – Bennett – Tkachuk

Rodrigues – Barkov – Reinhart

Lomberg – Stenlund – Samoskevich

Gadjovich – Lundell – Luostarinen

Defense:

Forsling – Ekblad

Mikkola – Montour

Ekman-Larsson – Kulikov

Goalies:

Sergei Bobrovsky

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 24.7%, 7th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 82.8%, 8th in NHL

Florida Panthers Power Play: 21.4%, 15th in NHL

Florida Panthers Penalty Kill: 84.2%, 6th in NHL

How to Watch

TV: Altitude TV, ESPN+

Radio: 92.5 Altitude Radio

Game Time: 2:00 PM MST