Lines and D pairs for Avs against Predators: Bo Byram returns

The Avalanche did not have a morning skate today, having arrived in the wee hours from Dallas, where their six-game winning streak was snapped last night in a desultory 3-1 loss. But this is a new day, Matt Duchene and the Nashville Predators are in town and Bo Byram will return to the lineup.

That last note is contingent on nothing bad happening from the time of this post and game-time, but I’m told that Bo Byram has been cleared and is in. The kid needs to keep his head up from here on out.

Jonas Johansson will start in goal for the Avs. Darcy Kuemper obviously had a terrible start last night, allowing two goals in the first two minutes to Joe Pavelski, but the rest of the team was awful as well. The Avs just phoned that one in last night.

So, with no skate today, these lines and D pairs are projected:

Landeskog-Rantanen-O’Connor

Nichushkin-Kadri-Burakovsky

Jost-Newhook-Kubel

Helm-Megna-MacDermid

D

Toews-Makar

Byram-Girard

E. Johnson-J. Johnson

Johansson

NOTEBOOK: Kiefer Sherwood was sent back to the Colorado Eagles last night. He is expected to play for the Eagles today in their matinee game in Loveland. … So, my projection of MacDermid as a forward is just that. … This is the completion of the first of 11 back-to-back sets for the Avs the rest of the season. … Avs allowed just one shot on goal in the third period last night. … Cale Makar scored a goal for the fifth straight game to break the franchise record for longest goal streak by a defenseman.