Jared Bednar, unhappy with secondary scoring, shakes up Avs lines

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.