The Colorado Avalanche are prepared to face a fast, physical team for the first of two matchups against the Philadelphia Flyers this season.

Turning the page from the 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night, the Colorado Avalanche know what they'll face in the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. 

"We watch a lot of video and you see what each team brings. We know the kind of coach Torts (Flyers head coach John Tortorella) is and how he coaches his team especially," Ross Colton said. "We know they're going to play hard, they're going to finish checks, it's probably going to be more physical game than what we saw especially last game against Winnipeg. For us, it's just coming out, playing our game, setting the tone early — and we'll be fine." 

Head coach Jared Bednar said Valeri Nichushkin will return to the lineup after missing two games due to illness. His presence has been missed as the Avalanche won one and lost the other while he was out. 

"He's a top six guy for us, plays in all areas so a little bit of everything — penalty kill, power play, helps in the 5-on-5," Bednar said. "Because the bulk of the game is played 5-on-5 is where we miss him the most. His ability to play with our top guys and help create offense and help keep teams under duress and extend O-zone play I think is probably the biggest one that we missed when he was gone."

As Colton said, the team knows what to expect from the Flyers but it doesn't do anything different  to prepare than it does for any other team. 

"Pretty simple hockey that they're going to play over there. They work hard ... coming back on pucks and hitting and blocking shots," Jonathan Drouin said. "It's like a lot of teams in this League, it's pretty simple. It's just some guys have a little more skill than others and you've got to take your time and space a little bit."

Ivan Prosvetov will start in net as scheduled to allow Alexandar Georgiev a game off during the every-other-day game schedule at home. 

Projected lineup

Although Nichushkin will return, it's expected he'll start on the second line to get some production sparked with that line. 

Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Valeri Nichushkin — Ryan Johansen — Tomas Tatar
Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Logan O’Connor
Kurtis MacDermid — Andrew Cogliano — Joel Kiviranta

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Bowen Byram — Josh Manson
Jack Johnson — Sam Malinksi

Ivan Prosvetov
Alexandar Georgiev 

The Flyers are four points behind the Avalanche and have not won at Ball Arena since the 2018-19 season. The teams meet again in Philadelphia on Jan. 20. 

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