PHILADELPHIA – His team may be winning games of late, but Avalanche coach Jared Bednar hasn’t been too happy with how it’s been winning games of late. Specifically, Bednar believes the load has been carried too much of late by the top line and the goaltenders. And, he’s probably right.
So, Bednar will make some changes to the Avs lineup, starting with tonight’s game with the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.
Probably the biggest change is with Tyson Jost, who will be moved off of a line with Alexander Kerfoot and Colin Wilson, and be replaced by Sven Andrighetto. Asked by BSN Denver why the change, and Bednar was succinct:
“I mean, they haven’t been getting any production, so we’re kind of looking for options,” Bednar said. “In my opinion, we’ve got a bunch of guys auditioning for a second line, a line that can help us produce offensively. We need to find a way to support those guys and create some chances. I thought they were doing a nice job early in the season, but it’s kind of dried up on us a little bit and we’re gonna keep looking at guys at different spots, and just keep moving forward.”
Jost will be moved onto a line, at center, with Gabriel Bourque and newcomer Marko Dano. Dano, claimed recently off waivers from Winnipeg, will be thrown into the breach. But he’s eager for the chance.
“I’m excited for the opportunity and to jump into a game,” said Dano, drafted in the first round (27th overall) in 2013 by Columbus. “Hopefully, I’ll earn a chance to play as many games as I can. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like that for a couple years now. In Winnipeg, I didn’t get many games, but I had a good time there and learned a little bit from that time. I’ve been around the league for a bit, and I think I can bring some good things into this locker room.”
It’s probably a tough pill to swallow right now for Jost, who came into the season with the opportunity to prove himself as a No. 2 center. While he’s played well at times, the overall numbers just haven’t been 2C material: one goal, one assist in eight games. He’ll likely get other chances to prove he belongs in the top six, but for now he’s going to have to work his way back up the hard way.
So, these appear to be the lines and D pairs for tonight’s game:
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Andrighetto-Kerfoot-Wilson
Nieto-Soderberg-Calvert
Dano-Jost-Bourque
D
Girard-Johnson
Cole-Barrie
Zadorov-Nemeth
Varlamov in goal.
Vladislav Kamenev and Mark Barberio will be scratches. These are tentative, of course. It could be that Andrighetto gets some time at center, as I didn’t see all of the line rushes this morning. But they’ll be on a line together. No new updates on J.T. Compher, by the way.
Brian Elliott will be in goal for the Flyers.
0 Comments (7 conversations)
SRbell8
why nieto over Kamenev?
b-rabbit
why Bourque over anyone?
StormSlab
Agreed -Kam has looked much better the last few games. Would rather see Jost on Soderberg’s wing and Nieto on the bench…
K.Szela93
I’m not panicking by any means. But Bourque has reached his ceiling. Kamanev has been progressing and has been provided some good 2 way play. I don’t understand why Kamanev a rookie we traded for with an untapped potential would be a healthy over a player like Gorque.
Chris DeMott
Man, I’d sure rather have a guy who can shoot on my wing if I’m Tyson Jost – Tough wake up call for two players 17 and 91.
This is such a weird team in the sense that their clear #2 center Soderberg doesn’t even get a chance to “audition” for the 2nd line and play with some guys who have offensive prowess. I suppose the injury to Comph also limits their options here.
Rich
Not sure why Bednar insists on having two one-dimensional players in Nieto and Bourque? I would much rather see Kamenev who has some offensive upside while playing pretty good defense.
jttthenutt
yup, i’m just here to bitch about Kam not being in there. Dude earned more playing time the past couple of games. Can’t wait until Compher is back and then we can have real fun with lines we want that we’ll (probably) never see from Bedsy
AvsFinn
Dano-Jost-Bouque sounds like a catastrophy. A lost Jost and the new guy still settling in for Bourque to carry? Still saying rather AHL than small minutes in a too tough of a place for Jost.
The rest I totally get. Nieto showed signes of waking up last game. Bednar needs him the good defensive player Nieto. And if Kamenev would be on that fourth line there wouldn’t be enough defense there to put them on the ice.
David C McKinnis
Jost and Kerfoot really needed to be split up. They both played the same game, so much so they had a tendency to go to the same place on the ice.