Morning skate notebook: Avs get a key player back

TORONTO – Hello from the Airbnb in Toronto. Got my own apartment for a TWO-night total of $90. That includes my own piano. Too bad the only thing I can play is chopsticks. After a rough indoctrination to Airbnb last year, I’ve become an evangelist for the whole thing. I laugh at media now who stay in $200 a night hotels. That used to be me, and guess what? My old “big media” employers are all broke now. Those who keep paying those rates for other “big media” companies will only drive their employers to the poor house even faster. Go for it.

Anyway, I was not at the morning skate today in Toronto. Woke up with a sore throat and a bit feverish, but I have made a rapid recovery thanks to the chamomile tea on hand here.

I still have lineup information for you. My throat didn’t work too good, but my phone still works.

The big news on the Avs lineup tonight is: 

Nikita Zadorov, Big Z, will return from his injury. He will replace Ryan Graves in the lineup. Zadorov and Mark Barberio, who played pretty well the other night in Montreal, will be a pair. Patrik Nemeth will not play either. He may be still a bit under the weather, but he also just may be a coach’s decision not to play too. Not quite sure on that one, but Nemeth won’t play.

Gabriel Bourque will be a scratch again as well. That’s two games in a row now he’s been a scratch.

While this is not official, some of my spies are telling me Semyon Varlamov will be the starting goalie again. Makes sense, I guess, considering he was one of the few Avs players who bothered to show up the other night.

The Avs, I think, catch a bit of a bad break for this one with the return in goal for Toronto of Frederik Andersen. He’s missed the past eight games. He’s a good goalie, so now it figures to be that much tougher for the Avs to get something going offensively again, after being shut out the other night.

The Avs are very close to dropping out of the top eight in the West. No matter what happens tonight, they will still be in the top eight tomorrow morning. But they only have a one-point lead on three different teams in the Wild-Card race. So, yeah, a win? Yeah, that would be great.