The Colorado Avalanche will take their talents to Buffalo tonight to take on former Avalanche Bowen Byram and the Sabres. The Avalanche have dropped their last two contests and are hoping to get things going in the right direction against a Sabers team that has lost its last three games. Can Casey go into midtown mode and help the Avalanche right the ship? Or will the Sabers get back in the win column? We’ll see.

Colorado avalanche

The Avalanche finally addressed their netminder issues last week, but what they accomplished remains to be seen. At the very least, Scott Wedgewood needs to serve as a legitimate replacement for the Avalanche, but what exactly does that mean? If you ask, that means spelling Georgiev and keeping the Avs competitive early in games. Here we have to hope.

It’s no secret that the Avalanche need to do better to come out strong in the first half. More importantly, they need to keep the puck out of their own net early – no more of this two-goals-on-three-shots business.

In the last three previews I predicted a MacKinnon explosion, and in the previous three previews I was wrong, so I’ll say this: MacKinnon is due.

Planned lineup:

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Nikolai Kovalenko — Casey Mittelstadt — Valery Nichushkin
Joel Kiviranta — Ivan Ivan — Logan O’Connor
Nikita Prishchepov — Parker Kelly — Chris Wagner

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Sam Malinski
Oliver Kylington — John Ludwig

Note: The avalanche injury problems continue. They will be without Josh Manson, who is listed week-to-week. The good news is that Ross Colton traveled with the team, but we are not sure if he will return.

Buffalo saber

The Sabers are an interesting team because of the balance of their roster. They have a lot of young, valuable talent and some veteran insight in both the forward group and on the blue line. It didn’t take long for Bowen Byram to become the top pair guy on a team that didn’t have Cale Makar and Devon Toews firmly at the helm. Good for him.

The other side of that deal was Casey Mittelstadt, who came out hot from the starting lineup this season but appears to have cooled off a bit over the last month. His problems are the same as those of the entire Avalanche roster. He needs to start contributing to the five-on-five result.

Planned lineup:

Jason Sugar — Days Thompson — Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka — Dylan Cozens — Zach Benson
Jiri Kulich — Ryan McLeod — Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn — Peyton Cancer — Nicolas Aube Kubel

Rasmus Dahlin — Bowen Byram
Owen Power — Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson — Connor Clifton

goalkeeper

The Avalanche will lean on Alexandar Georgiev as we wait for Scott Wedgewood’s debut. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is the confirmed starter for Buffalo.