Projected Lineups for Avalanche vs Lightning – 01/06/26 - The Hockey Writers - Projected Lineups

The Colorado Avalanche take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and other.

AVALANCHE (31-3-7) at LIGHTNING (25-13-3)

7 p.m. ET; The Spot, ALT, SNE, TVAS

Avalanche projected lineup

Victor Olofsson — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton — Jack Drury — Gavin Brindley
Taylor Makar — Zakhar Bardakov — Parker Kelly

Samuel Girard — Cale Makar
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov — Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Trent Miner

Scratched: None

Injured: Gabriel Landeskog (upper body), Devon Toews (upper body), Mackenzie Blackwood (lower body), Joel Kiviranta (lower body), Logan O’Connor (hip surgery)

Status report

Landeskog, a forward, and Toews, a defenseman, are back in Denver and are week to week, according to Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. Landeskog’s injury is considered more serious. … Blackwood, a goalie, could be back as soon as Thursday against the Ottawa Senators.

Latest for THW:

Lightning projected lineup

Gage Goncalves — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Jake Guentzel
Zemgus Girgensons — Yanni Gourde — Pontus Holmberg
Nick Paul — Dominic James — Oliver Bjorkstrand

J.J. Moser — Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D’Astous — Erik Cernak
Declan Carlile — Max Crozier

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson

Scratched: Curtis Douglas, Jack Finley, Simon Lundmark

Injured: Ryan McDonagh (lower body), Victor Hedman (elbow), Emil Lilleberg (undisclosed), Scott Sabourin (undisclosed)

Status report

McDonagh, a defenseman, should be back before the Olympic break next month. … Lilleberg, a defenseman, will be out several more weeks and is unlikely to return before the break.