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Seek split vs. Blues

January 15, 2021, 3:09 PM ET [1 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Philipp Grubauer will start again Friday at Ball Arena when the Avalanche look to gain a split with St. Louis, which won Wednesday’s opener 4-1.

Here are the GAME NOTES.

“It’s a shortened season, so every game has a heightened importance,” coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate. “I think what’s sort of sticking with me and the rest of our group is just that we didn’t like the way we played. Sometimes you’re going to play good hockey games and you’re not going to come out with the result you want, but night one that wasn’t the case.

“We did not play well, we didn’t play the way we wanted to play, and it’s kind of sticking with us a little bit, so I think from our group we’ll see a heightened urgency for sure.”

Gabriel Landeskog and Andre Burakovsky, who scored a power-play goal Wednesday, will swap lines. Also, the second and third defense pairings will change, as listed below.

Defensemen Erik Johnson and Bowen Byram will skate for the first time Saturday after completing their quarantines Friday. Johnson missed camp to recover from COVID-19. Byram, the No. 4 pick in the 2019 NHL draft, had to wait seven days after arriving from Canada and the World Junior Championship tournament.

The rest of the team is off Saturday.

Forward Mike Hoffman will make his Blues debut. He signed a one-year contract Monday and had to sit out Wednesday because of a work visa issue. He’s scored between 22 and 36 goals the past six seasons; he had 29 last year with Florida.

Avalanche lineup:

LINES:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Brandon Saad -- Nazem Kadri – Andre Burakovsky
Valeri Nichushkin -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi
Tyson Jost -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Matt Calvert

DEFENSE:
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Ryan Graves
Ian Cole -- Conor Timmins

GOALIES:
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz

Scratched: None

Injured: None

COVID-19 protocol: Erik Johnson



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