Avalanche Game 59 at St. Louis Blues: 2nd of Back-to-Back for Both Teams; Lines, Notes & How to Watch

The Colorado Avalanche (33-23-2) face off against Central Division foe St. Louis Blues (25-26-6) on the second of back-to-back games for both teams. The puck is scheduled to drop at 4:13 p.m. MT.

The Avs lost 2-1 to the Nashville Predators on Friday night despite nearly doubling their opponent’s shots on goal. Juuse Saros started unsteady but improved throughout the game, making 31 saves to earn the win.

Defenseman Sam Malinski scored the Avs’ lone goal from just outside the right circle with a high-powered slapshot at 18:45 in the second period. Jonathan Drouin and Juuso Parssinen assisted on the score.

Read More: Good & Bad: Avalanche Fall 2-1 to Struggling Nashville Predators

Justin Barron tied it up 30 seconds later with a shot right down the lane and traffic in front to beat Scott Wedgewood. Jonathan Marchessault sealed the game for the Preds midway through the final frame.

“I thought that was a good continuation of the practice days that we had. Liked their energy, liked their skating, felt like we made a lot of plays coming out of our zone. We had a tough time scoring tonight …,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “They earned both those goals, and we made a couple mistakes on those goals against, we’ll have to clean up. But we just had a tough time.”

Even though Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon came in hot off the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship win and did not practice with the team the last few days, they could not beat Saros. The elite defenseman had four shots on goal while the reigning MVP had eight.

The Blues earned a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets at the Enterprise Center on Friday. Blues goaltender Joel Hofer made 25 saves and Robert Thomas scored two goals. Pavel Buchnevich assisted on both and scored the Blues’ third goal.

Colorado is 5-2-0 in the second game of a back-to-back and 17-13-0 on the road. St. Louis is 1-3-1 in the second half and 12-14-3 at home. Both teams will have fresh legs in net with Mackenzie Blackwood for the Avalanche and Jordan Binnington for the Blues.

Read More: Deen’s Daily: Bad Avalanche Loss; Rantanen’s Future Undecided; Subban Rips Penguins

Season Series

• Jan. 31 vs St. Louis Blues (W, 5-0)
• Feb. 23 at St. Louis Blues
• March 29 vs St. Louis Blues
• April 5 at St. Louis Blues

Avalanche Injuries

• Josh Manson (upper body, day-to-day)
• Valeri Nichushkin (lower body, day-to-day)
• Gabriel Landeskog (knee, no timetable)

Projected Avalanche Lines (subject to change)

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Jonathan Drouin — Casey Mittelstadt — Juuso Parssinen
Miles Wood – Jack Drury –  Ross Colton
Joel Kiviranta — Parker Kelly — Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Sam Malinski
Calvin de Haan — Oliver Kylington

Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Projected Starters (subject to change)

• Confirmed: Mackenzie Blackwood (COL)
• Confirmed: Jordan Binnington (STL)

Upcoming Milestones

• Cale Makar — needs 1 point for 400
• Nathan MacKinnon — needs 3 PPG for 100
• Logan O’Connor — needs 4 points for 100
• Mackenzie Blackwood — needs 5 wins for 100

How to Watch

• TV: Altitude Sports and KUSA 9News
• Radio: 92.5 FM