Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. Arizona Coyotes (7:00 p.m.)
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The Avs head to Mullett Arena to take on a college team - er, no, it’s the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.
After a couple days of rest around the Christmas holiday, the Colorado Avalanche ride into the Arizona desert high on the back of four straight wins and will look to extend their late-December winning streak.
Unfortunately, rather than give Coach Bednar his injured toys back, Santa took a couple more away as Val Nichushkin and Martin Kaut were dinged up in the last contest versus the Nashville Predators and Pavel Francouz picked up an injury as well.
The Arizona Coyotes also found a fresh injury under their tree, as rookie Mattias Maccelli was injured in their last game and will miss the next six weeks with a lower body. Maccelli was an early season bright spot in a very dark season in Arizona, sitting second among rookies in points and frequently sparking the Coyotes’ offense when their veterans could not.
Arizona has been a respectable 5-3-2 at home, and Colorado will need yet another new-look lineup to gel quickly in order to get the W in Mullett Arena.
PROJECTED LINEUP
Artturi Lehkonen (62) - J.T. Compher (37) - Mikko Rantanen (96)Alex Newhook (18) - Evan Rodrigues (9) - Dennis Malgin (81)Andrew Cogliano (11) - Ben Meyers (59) - Logan O’Connor (25)Kurtis MacDermid (56) - Charles Hudon (54) - Jacob MacDonald (26)
Cale Makar (8) - Devon Toews (7)Sam Girard (49) - Erik Johnson (6)Andreas Englund (88) - Brad Hunt (17)
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