Game Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. Carolina Hurricanes (7:00 pm)

The Colorado Avalanche will face their first big test of the season as they face what many outlets have as the betting favorite to win the Eastern Conference, the Carolina Hurricanes. The Avs have come flying out of the gates, outscoring their opponents 15-4 in their four wins, while the Hurricanes have struggled a bit versus middling to bad teams, leading them to a 3-2 record and they will surely be looking to put their best foot forward tonight.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado is coming off a dominant win against Chicago where they shut down Connor Bedard, the most hyped prospect to enter the NHL since Connor McDavid. That followed a revenge game against Seattle where the first period looked quite a bit like last year’s upset playoff series, but the Avs found their footing in the second and never looked back en route to a comfortable 4-1 win. The superstars are doing superstar things, and Colorado is getting some improved play from the bottom six, as Logan O’Connor has started out the season on fire with two short-handed goals. The Avs remade third line has been impressive so far, as Ross Colton and Miles Wood have proven to be the high-energy physical players that were advertised this off-season, and the defense is rock solid once again, while Alexandar Georgiev is off to a great start in what he is hoping will be his best season as a pro.

The lineup is a bit in flux, as Jared Bednar has said he is experimenting with the third forward to play with Nathan Mackinnon and Mikko Rantanen on the top line and wants to try to make those changes based on the matchups for each game. That led the Avs to start Valeri Nichushkin on the top line against Chicago, but Tomas Tatar finished the contest playing with the big line, and it’s really anyone’s guess who Bednar will stick with on any given night in that role right now. That trickles down to the rest of the lineup, so don’t be surprised to see the Avs play with some different lines throughout the night. Given how Jonathan Drouin has looked his best on the top line, we’ll project him to start there, but the only guarantee we can make is that someone else will eventually occupy that spot at some point in the night tonight.

Colorado Avalanche Projected Lines

Jonathan Drouin (27) - Nathan Mackinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)
Artturi Lehkonen (62) - Ryan Johansen (12) - Valeri Nichushkin (13)
Miles Wood (28) - Ross Colton (20) - Tomas Tatar (90)
Andrew Cogliano (11) - Frederik Olofsson (22) - Logan O’Connor (25)

Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)
Bowen Byram (4) - Sam Girard (49)
Jack Johnson (3) - Josh Manson (42)

Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lines

Michael Bunting (58) - Teuvo Teravainen (86) - Martin Necas (88)
Stefan Noesen (23) - Jesperi Kotkaniemi (82) - Seth Jarvis (24)
Jordan Martinook (48) - Jordan Staal (11) - Jesper Fast (71)
Brednan Lemeiux (28) - Jack Drury (18)

Jaccob Slavin (74) - Brent Burns (8)
Brady Skjei (76) - Brett Pesce (22)
Dimitry Orlov (7) - Jalen Chatfield (5)
Tony DeAngelo (77)