About half of the Colorado Avalanche took to the practice ice today as the other half took the day off following an exhausting 2-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Included in the group on the ice today were injured forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Blake Comeau and both shed the non-contact jerseys they had previously worn and participated in the full-but-brief practice.
The team skated for just about 30 minutes before leaving the ice to prepare for their afternoon departure to Winnipeg, where they are set to take on the Central Division’s second place Jets tomorrow night.
Following the light workout, head coach Jared Bednar met with the media to discuss the plans for this weekend’s games, including the timeline for returns of MacKinnon and Comeau to the regular lineup.
Bednar said MacKinnon won’t travel with the team this weekend and is officially listed as ‘questionable’ for the Sunday’s matinee home tilt against the Edmonton Oilers. Comeau, however, will be returning to the lineup against the Jets tomorrow night and will take his familiar place on the right side of the ice next to Matt Nieto and Carl Soderberg.
Because of Comeau’s return, the Avalanche will be forced to make at least one lineup change from last night’s group that held on to win a franchise record tying tenth consecutive home game. As of today, there has been no decision made on which forward will come out of the lineup but it’s a fair assumption to look at the line of A.J. Greer, Dominic Toninato, and Nail Yakupov for the likeliest substitution. Given Toninato is the center of the group, it’s likely he is safe and one of Greer or Yakupov is the odd man out.
Beyond that, still no timelines have been given for the mysteriously injured Sven Andrighetto and Mark Barberio, neither of whom are skating with the team, though Bednar recently started Barberio is “getting better.”
Following his 44-save shutout last night, Semyon Varlamov is getting the night off tomorrow to rest, giving the starting reins back over to Jonathan Bernier, but Varlamov will return to the cage on Sunday against Edmonton.
That does it for us from practice today. Stay tuned here at BSN Denver for all your Avalanche updates!
Update: Rocco Grimaldi has been sent back down to San Antonio.
0 Comments (3 conversations)
FatnSlo
Sure seems like the defense is hurting without Barberio.
Nels
I agree, really starting to miss him. He seems like a big step up from Lindholm usually. Linholm looked terrible against the Habs. At least this way we don’t have to worry about trading him (Barbs) for a fourth round pick before the deadline, which has always been a terrible idea.
Definitely missing Barberio. He was a steadying presence on that blue line. Brought out the best in Nemeth, too. that would be a passable third pairing if they didn’t already have other guys to make fit.
mladen
I think Girardi’s age and lack of strength are starting to show. I think the opposition has learned how to trap him and then it’s easy to strip him. Jost’s lack of strength is also showing. But playing these 19 year olds will pay off in the next year or two.
DTwieg
It will be nice when the Avs can just send players up to the Eagles in Loveland.