Preview: Fortified Avalanche Welcome Capitals Tonight

On By Littum

One final game at home begins tonight before the Colorado Avalanche begin a road-heavy schedule for the rest of the calendar year. This contest will be the 12th game at Ball Arena so far in the 2024-25 season, and the Avalanche have used home ice to their advantage to stay afloat in the standings while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

The Washington Capitals, meanwhile, have had a strong start to their season as they sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division, but have lost three of their last five and hope to start their road trip on the right foot with a win.

Colorado avalanche

There is no bigger story for the home side than the much-anticipated return of Valeri Nichushkin from his six-month suspension, which is finally set for tonight. Coincidentally, both Jonathan Drouin and Miles Wood are expected to join the Avalanche lineup as they were both activated from injured reserve yesterday. With healthy forwards available, the Avalanche lineup will look completely different than the one they defeated the LA Kings on Wednesday night with only a guess at the exact lines expected.

Expected lineup

Jonathan Drouin-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen

Artturi Lehkonen-Casey Mittelstadt-Val Nichushkin

Joel Kiviranta-Parker Kelly-Logan O’Connor

Miles Wood-Ivan Ivan-Nikolai Kovalenko

Devon Toews-Cale Makar

Samuel Girard-Josh Manson

Calvin de Haan-Sam Malinski

Washington capitals

Tonight, the Capitals will get their first look at Lars Eller following their blockbuster acquisition of the former Avalanche forward from the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins. We’re also on Ovi watch as Alex Ovechkin has come out of the gates scoring 10 goals in 15 games to start the season.

Expected lineup

Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Aliaksei Protas

Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson

Andrew Mangiapane-Lars Eller-Jakub Vrana

Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh

Jakob Chychrun-John Carlson

Martin Fehervary-Matt Roy

Rasmus Sandin-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Goalkeepers

Justus Annunen took the starter’s net at the morning skate. For the visitors, a starter wasn’t already announced, but Washington has started and seen more success from Logan Thompson, who has yet to lose in regulation, and that looks to be the smart bet in this start.

Extra: Check out former Colorado Eagles reporter Katie Florio’s interviews setting up tonight’s matchup from the Washington side.