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Bourque, Greer will play vs Stars |
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Rick Sadowski
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Forwards Gabriel Bourque and A.J. Greer will be in the lineup Tuesday when the Avalanche meet Dallas at the Pepsi Center.
They practiced Monday after being recalled Sunday from AHL San Antonio.
Greer had two assists in two games with the Rampage after recovering from the concussion he sustained in a fight in a preseason game with Dallas. Bourque had a goal and an assist in five games with the Rampage.
"For me, it's to be that power forward and create space (for his linemates) and let them do the fancy work and I do the dirty work," Greer said. "It's special to put on this Avs jersey, it's a dream come true every time you put that on."
Bourque's duties will be to play solid defense and help kill penalties. The Avalanche penalty killers are 25th in the league at 75.8 percent.
"I have to do a really good job in the defensive zone, play a solid fourth-line role and be ready on the PK," Bourque said. "PK's my best chance to stay here, so I have to be really good when I get my chance."
Andre Mironov's agent, Dan Milstein, tweeted Monday afternoon that the defenseman would be recalled, but the Avalanche had yet to make that official. They were down to 18 healthy skaters -- 12 forwards and six defensemen -- because Patrik Nemeth and Colin Wilson are banged up, left the ice early and won't play against the Stars.
Bourque and Greer were summoned because J.T. Compher is out indefinitely with a broken thumb; the positive news is he won't need surgery. Tyson Jost is expected to miss 2-3 weeks with a lower-body injury.
This was the lineup at practice:
FORWARDS
Sven Andrighetto -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog -- Matt Duchene -- Nail Yakupov
Matt Nieto -- Alexander Kerfoot -- A.J. Greer
Gabriel Bourque -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
DEFENSE
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Anton Lindholm -- Tyson Barrie
Mark Barberio -- Chris Bigras
GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Jonathan Bernier
Coach Jared Bednar wasn't happy with how a couple of players performed in the 4-3 loss to St. Louis on Thursday. Forward Nail Yakupov, who has gone four games without a point, was benched in the third period. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov played a season-low 15:31, while usual partner Erik Johnson logged 26:21.
On Zadorov:
"He's got to be better, for sure," Bednar said. "He's one guy that has the ability to play in that shutdown role with EJ. It's tough to log the minutes EJ's logging right now, so that's going to have to be done by committee. The rest of the minutes are going to get spread around a little bit here.
"The base of (Zadorov's) play has to start with the physical presence and make sure he's moving his feet and just making simple puck plays. I think he can be better. We're putting pressure on him to be better. Last season he came out with a slow start and he kept building and building, and I thought he was playing a real solid, top-four defenseman game for a stretch, then he got hurt.
"He's missed a lot of time, missed part of training camp, so he's behind a little bit. We're trying to be patient with him, but I think that he's aware that he can be better. We need him to be better, especially when we're running thin on the blue line."
On Yakupov:
"I have high expectations for Yak based on what he did in training camp, based on what he's done the first handful of games in the season," Bednar said. "There's been a little drop-off in his play over the last two or three (games), much like the rest of our team. I don't want to treat him unfairly. I've talked to him about it. I'm looking forward for him to respond for sure."
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