Who: Colorado Avalanche (16-13-0 32 points, 4th place Central Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (12-13-4, 28 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 7 p.m. ET

Here’s how to watch: Broadcast locally on Altitude and SportsNet Pittsburgh, stream nationally on ESPN+

The path of the pens lies before us: The Pens will spend most of next week away from home, with trips to Montreal/Ottawa and Nashville/New Jersey between a home game against the Los Angeles Kings. First up is an away game against the Canadiens on Thursday.

Enemy bar: The Avs have won three of their last four games, most recently beating the New Jersey Devils 4-0 on Sunday in Newark.

Season series: The Pens and Avs don’t meet again until March in Denver.

Hidden statistics: Nathan MacKinnon has only scored nine goals in 29 games, but that strike rate is set to rise soon. His shooting percentage of 7.8 is unusually low considering he has made over 10 percent of his shots over the last three seasons.

Getting to know the Avs

Projected lines

FORWARD

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Ross Colton – Casey Mittelstadt – Valeri Nichushkin

Joel Kiviranta – Parker Kelly – Logan O’Connor

Nikita Prishchepov – Ivan Ivan – Chris Wagner

DEFENDER

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Samuel Girard-Sam Malinski

Keaton Middleton-Calvin de Hahn

Goalkeeper: Mackenzie Blackwood, Scott Wedgewood

IR: Gabriel Landeskog, Tucker Poolman, Miles Wood, Josh Manson

Possible scratches: Jonathan Drouin, Nikolai Kovalenko

• Ross Colton, who returned Saturday after missing 17 games with a broken foot, has buoyed the Avs’ second line in the last two games.

• At the end of October, the Avs were missing five players from their first three lines (h/t Drew Livingstone). Since then, Colton has returned, Lehkonen has returned from offseason shoulder surgery and Nichushkin’s six-month suspension ended. Drouin is still week-to-week with an upper-body injury and Landeskog has not yet returned from the knee problems that have sidelined him since the 2021-22 season, but this is the healthiest team the Avs have been able to overcome in a month.

Player stats

(above hockeydb)

Blackwood to Avs

It was a busy Monday for the Avs, who traded starter Alexandar Georgiev and rookie winger Nikolai Kovalenko to the San Jose Sharks in a package that included Sharks starter Mackenzie Blackwood.

Blackwood spent his first five NHL seasons in New Jersey, but lost his position in the Devils rotation after two sub-.895 seasons and was traded to the San Jose Sharks in the summer of 2023.

He posted a .909 save percentage and a 3.00 GAA with one shutout in 19 games this season behind a poor Sharks defense. Georgiev, a 2024 All-Star, meanwhile, struggled with a career-worst .874 save percentage and a 3.38 GAA in 18 appearances for the Avs. Both clubs are now hoping that a change of scenery will be the answer to their goalkeeping problems.

The trade came after the Avalanche traded goaltender Justus Annunen for former Nashville Predators goaltender Scott Wedgewood on November 30.

The club hopes these two trades will fix an issue that has kept the Avs from securing a top spot in the Central so far this season. The team ranked 21st in the NHL with a save percentage of .822 at 5-on-5 before the Wedgewood trade (h/t NHL.com).

Blackwood doesn’t have a particularly strong history against the Pens, with a record of 2-6-1 in nine previous meetings. Wedgewood is now coming off a 25-save shutout against the Devils and could make a second straight start should the Avs opt for the hot goaltender and prepare Blackwood for an Avs debut against Utah later this week.

And now to the pens

Projected lines (from Training on Monday)

FORWARD

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Drew O’Connor – Evgeni Malkin – Cody Glass

Michael Bunting – Blaze Lizotte – Jesse Puljujarvi

Kevin Hayes – Noel Acciari – Anthony Beauvillier

DEFENDER

Owen Pickering / Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Matt Grzelcyk

Goalkeeper: Tristan Jarry (Alex Nedeljkovic started last night)

Possible scratches: Ryan Shea, Matt Nieto, Philip Tomasino (injured)

IR: no

• According to Mike Sullivan, Philip Tomasino is still dealing with an injury. He wore a non-contact jersey during practice on Monday.
• Graves, who played well in eight of nine games prior to Saturday’s win over the Maple Leafs, is expected to be on the roster for the second straight game tonight. He spent the first three seasons of his NHL career with the Avs before being traded prior to the Kraken Expansion Draft.
• The Pens enter today’s match with a four-game home win streak.