It’s Avalanche game day!

After the Colorado Avalanche were bounced by the Dallas Stars in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring, the Avs and Stars are meeting for the first time this season. With both teams coming into this contest with disastrous performances in the second half of the season, the Avs will look to build on the success of their comeback against the Vegas Golden Knights, while the Stars will look to start their own recovery after losing to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday 6 -2.

Colorado avalanche:

The Avs will look to make Thanksgiving week a success despite their loss in Tampa on Monday with a win in Dallas to go along with their home win over Vegas. Regrettably, they will undertake this effort with a now depleted line-up, with both Jonathan Drouin and Miles Wood out through injury and the latter being placed on injured reserve again this week.

The team has learned to play without these two wingers and the guys who stepped up at the start of the season need to find a way to contribute once again. Chris Wagner will take Wood’s spot on the fourth line alongside Chase Bradley, who had a solid game in his NHL debut against the Golden Knights.

On the blue line, Oliver Kylington looked much better in his last two games than his disastrous start to the season, but he also suffered an injury and was unable to make the trip to Dallas. Calvin de Haan needs to recover from a tough Lightning game to consolidate the final pair.

Expect to see Alexandar Georgiev in net. There’s no way to know what version of him we’ll get, but if the Avs play impeccable defense like they did against Vegas, it shouldn’t matter too much.

Projected lines:

Artturi Lehkonen (62) – Nathan MacKinnon (29) – Valeri Nichushkin (13)

Ivan Ivan (82) – Casey Mittelstadt (37) – Mikko Rantanen (96)

Joel Kiviranta (94) – Parker Kelly (17) – Nikolai Kovalenko (51)

Chase Bradley (38) – Chris Wagner (14) – Logan O’Connor (25)

Devon Toews (7) – Cale Makar (8)

Samuel Girard (49) – Josh Manson (42)

Calvin de Haan (44) – Sam Malinski (70)

Alexander Georgiev (40)

Dallas Stars:

The Stars have lost three of their last five games and have conceded six goals in each of their last two games. These aren’t the stingy stars we’ve become accustomed to in recent years, but they’re missing a key contributor in all three zones in top center Roope Hintz.

Their forward lineup is still dangerous without him, but their blueline has taken a big step back from last year, with Ilya Lyubushkin, Brendan Smith and Matt Dumba replacing Chris Tanev and Ryan Suter. These are two of the best defensive players in the league despite their advanced age, and Lyubushkin was decent, but Smith and Dumba were predictably leaky.

Also a little leaky? Your goalkeeper. Jake Oettinger was great for the most part, with a .912 save percentage that year the Avs would just die, but every time he gave up more than three goals the Stars lost. Casey DeSmith made three errors in almost every start and lost them all.

Projected lines:

Jason Robertson (21) – Wyatt Johnston (53) – Logan Stankoven (11)

Mason Marchment (27) – Matt Duchene (95) – Tyler Seguin (91)

Jamie Benn (14) Mavrik Bourque (22) – Evgenii Dadonov (63)

Oskar Back (10) – Sam Steel (18) – Colin Blackwell (15)

Esa Lindell (23) – Miro Heiskanen (4)

Thomas Harley (55) – Ilya Lyubushkin (46)

Brendan Smith (2) – Matt Dumba (3)

Jake Oettinger (30)

Where to see:

This game will be broadcast nationally on TNT. Unlike Wednesday, Altitude will not air tonight, lifting the regional blackout on the TNT channel for viewers in Colorado. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. MT.