Avs morning skate notebook: Injury list starts

Hello from the Pepsi Center, where, the Avalanche hosts the Philadelphia Flyers tonight (7 p.m., seats still available).

We have our first injured player of the season, at least from what happened in a regular-season game:

Patrik Nemeth will miss tonight’s contest with an upper-body injury. Coach Jared Bednar said it’s not serious, but that the team thought it best to give him a night off. Mark Barberio will take his place, alongside Ian Cole.

Nemeth had an outstanding game Thursday night, so this is a loss for the Avs, but Barberio is certainly a capable D-man. This is what Joe Sakic was talking about when he said he wanted an oversupply of veteran D on hand. Someone always gets hurt, and last year the Avs were kind of caught with their pants down when injuries hit the D.

No other changes to the lineup, so these are what the lines look like:

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen

Kerfoot-Jost-Wilson

Nieto-Soderberg-Bourque

Dries-Compher-Calvert

D

Girard-Johnson

Zadorov-Barrie

Barberio-Cole

Varlamov in goal

NOTEBOOK: Brian Elliott will start in goal for the Flyers. Calvin Pickard, acquired via waivers the other day, will serve as the backup. … Since the Avs started in Denver in 1995, they are 17-10-6 against the Flyers. … The Avs were 19-11-2 against the Eastern Conference last season. … Avs are 9-3-1 in their last 13 games at home against the East. … The Avs scored two empty-net goals in the season opener. Last year, they had a league-leading 20 empty-netters. … The Avs’ roster averages 6-feet in height, 201 pounds. At 26.3, they are the sixth-youngest team in the league, on average. … The Colorado Eagles lost their season opener Friday night to the Chicago Wolves, 3-2 in overtime. A.J. Greer and Igor Shvyrev scored the Eagles’ goals. … Public service announcement: Hey, being from the Northeast, I’m a Dunkin’ Donuts guy. This season, Avs fans can get $1 hot or iced coffees on Thursdays using the DD Perks app. I’m lookin’ out for you, you guys.