Greetings from the Pepsi Center, where tonight the Avalanche try to keep this thing rollin’, with what is sure to be a tough matchup against the Los Angeles Kings. Puck drop is at 7:08.
Some lineup changes in store for tonight. They are:
Duncan Siemens in, David Warsofsky out on defense. I think Jared Bednar wants as big and physical a lineup as he can get against the big, physical Kings, so ergo the change there.
Vladislav Kamenev is back in the lineup, at fourth-line center. He’ll replace Dominic Toninato. Also, Carl Soderberg will miss another game with an unspecified illness.
That’s a tough loss for the Avs, because Soderberg has the kind of big body that can hang effectively against the Kings’ top center, Anze Kopitar. I think Bednar was counting on that matchup, having the last change and all, but he’s just too sick to go yet.
Jonathan Bernier is back too. He’ll be the backup for Semyon Varlamov, with Spencer Martin still on the roster – but expected to be sent back to San Antonio soon. Bernier will wear a new helmet, by the way. It’ll be a bigger, more padded one – a “concussion helmet.”
He’s had two concussions in less than a month, so it obviously makes sense. Bernier said, after the last one, he was “seeing spots” and things were too “black and white” right after taking that slap shot off the facemask from Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
I’ll post some locker-room audio here soon.
0 Comments (3 conversations)
SparkleTindi
Are we ever going to see Nail Yakupov again?
bencanon
Hopefully not.
zekeballinger88
Hope not
Avs425
When he stops to takes that last look and wave goodbye before boarding the plane back to the K.
Hils
I really hope so. He doesn’t deserve the amount of healthy scratches he’s been getting
Flashdurb
Not in the middle of a playoff push. Needs guys with hockey IQ.
Mapletreemarty
The atmosphere for tonight, and where these two teams are in the standings will makes this feel like a playoff game. Hope the fans are all out to support the team and help give them the edge and keep the momentum going.
Hugs thumbs up to all of the lineup changes. Hopefully Bernier can spell Varly for a game or two before the season ends.
ChippyPlay
Man, it sucks, but I really don’t think St. Louis is going to miss the playoffs. They are at 84 points with 9 games left, but the remaining games are so so soft that it seems likely they will hit 99 points or so. They don’t really play any other teams in this final fight (except for the last game v the Avs). Instead its a lot of the mediocre east teams and garbage teams from the west.
The big hope for keeping them out is that Chicago, whom they play twice, has enough hatred for that team to play them hard.
So (duh) this game against the Kings is super important.
Johnny M
Columbus, Vegas, San Jose, Washington and Colorado are gonna give STL hell. No stress! I think they’re gonna blow it. I guess we will see in a week or so.
ChippyPlay
Hope so!!