Nathan MacKinnon to play tonight versus Ducks

Following a brief morning skate at Ball Arena, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar announced that star forward Nathan MacKinnon was ready to go tonight against the visiting Anaheim Ducks.

Having MacKinnon in the lineup is a stroke of good fortune for the club after he was the recipient of a headshot by San Jose rookie Joachim Blichfeld halfway through the third period of the team’s 4-0 win two nights ago.

Blichfeld was suspended two games for the illegal check to the head of MacKinnon.

Even after the game against the Sharks, both Bednar and Gabe Landeskog expressed optimism that MacKinnon would be okay, a feeling that was confirmed this morning.

With MacKinnon in the lineup, the Avalanche are opening a franchise-record nine-game continuous homestand with a back-to-back against the Ducks. The two teams split their earlier series in Anaheim with the Avs winning the first game in overtime and the Ducks stealing the second game behind a brilliant performance by goaltender John Gibson.

Tonight’s lineup appears to be:

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Saad-Kadri-Burakovsky
Nichushkin-Compher-Donskoi
Jost-Bellemare-O’Connor

Graves-Girard
Toews-MacDonald
Renouf-Timmins

Grubauer
Miska