Back in action for the first time in a week, the Avalanche take on Anaheim on Thursday at the Pepsi Center.
Here are the
GAME NOTES.
Semyon Varlamov will start for the first time since Dec. 22 when he allowed five goals on 18 shots in the Colorado Avalanche's 6-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He missed six games because of a groin injury and was
Calvin Pickard's backup Jan. 6 in a 2-1 overtime win against the New York Islanders when the Avalanche ended a 10-game home losing streak.
The Avalanche haven't played since, having been on the NHL-mandated bye period. They practiced late Wednesday afternoon and had a morning skate Thursday.
"I think it's a little bit of a double-edged sword," coach
Jared Bednar said of the time off. "It's done our group some good with the energy, we seem a little rejuvenated getting ready to start the second half. We had a good practice with some passion.
"Guys seem like the weight of the world's been lifted off them a little bit. It's dangerous, though, because you're playing a good team coming in here that's been playing some good hockey and they'll be sharp. We have to make sure that rust isn't a factor for us."
The Ducks are 4-1-0 in their past five games, 6-1-3 in 10, and they get
Ryan Getzlaf back. The 6-feet-4, 221-pound center missed four games because of a lower-body injury and will skate with
Rickard Rakell and
Corey Perry.
The Ducks' top line of
Andrew Cogliano, Ryan Kesler and
Jakob Silfverberg has combined for six goals and four assists in five games. Anaheim hasn't been scoring much, 19 goals in nine games, but goalie
John Gibson has allowed just 16 goals in this 5-1-3 stretch.
In fact, Gibson is 6-1-3 with two shutouts, a 1.76 goals-against average and .940 save percentage in his past 10 starts. He made 34 saves Tuesday in a 2-0 win against Dallas.
"Sometimes (time off) can be good, sometimes it can be bad," said Avalanche defenseman
Francois Beauchemin, who didn't play against the Islanders because of a sinus infection. "We want to get a couple wins together and try and build something.
"It's a tough situation to be in, but we try and keep working hard every day, try to build something, try and get better every day in practice, and catch a few breaks here and there during games. I don't think I've ever seen as many pucks go in our net off of us, but at the same time we haven't created enough offensively."
*****
Bednar said defenseman
Erik Johnson, who sustained a broken fibula Dec. 3 against Dallas, is making progress. The original prognosis, which seemed optimistic, was that he'd miss 6-8 weeks. Now it's 8-10 weeks, taking him to mid-February.
“We’ve seen him around the rink here now," Bednar said. "The boot’s off, he’s walking better. I think there’s a plan to keep moving forward and hopefully he hits the ice in two weeks or so. Then it’s going to take him some time from there. You’re missing eight weeks and that injury tends to be sore when you get it back in the (skate boot), but we’ll see how he handles it when he starts skating.”
John Mitchell will be a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
Joe Colborne and
Eric Gelinas also will be scratched.
The Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Matt Duchene -- Rene Bourque
Blake Comeau -- Carl Soderberg -- Jarome Iginla
Cody McLeod -- Mikhail Grigorenko -- Andreas Martinsen
DEFENSE
Fedor Tyutin -- Tyson Barrie
Francois Beauchemin -- Nikita Zadorov
Patrick Wiercioch - Cody Goloubef
GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Calvin Pickard
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Rick-Sadowski/New-chapter-for-Nieto/188/81910
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