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Grubauer in net vs Hurricanes; Dano has been added to roster

October 19, 2018, 6:40 PM ET [7 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Goalie Philipp Grubauer will start again when the Avalanche face a rested Carolina Hurricanes team in a Saturday matinee in the third game of their four-game road trip.

Grubauer made 27 saves Thursday in the Avalanche’s 5-3 win in New Jersey, his first win for his new team.

“We like what Grubi did,” coach Jared Bednar told the Avalanche web site after practice Friday in Raleigh. “I also want to give him a chance to build off that game. We were pretty good defensively, he was good and I want to see if he can bounce back and equal that performance, or even better that performance. We are going to give him another crack here."

Grubauer has a 4-2-1 career record against the Hurricanes with a 2.70 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.

While the Avalanche (4-1-2) are coming off their win against the Devils, powered by Gabriel Landeskog’s third career hat trick, the Hurricanes (4-2-1) haven’t played since a 4-2 road loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

The Avalanche’s top line of Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen combined for 13 shots and 10 points (four goals, six assists) against the Devils and has amassed 32 points (14 goals, 18 assists) in the first seven games.

MacKinnon’s goal-scoring streak ended at six games – a franchise record from the start of a season – but he stretched his point streak to seven games with three assists.

Rantanen had an empty-net goal and three assists, extending his assist streak to seven games, two short of John-Michael Liles’ franchise record set in 2010-11. He leads the NHL with 11 assists.

Forward Marko Dano, claimed on waivers from Winnipeg this week, has been activated.

And now that forward Sven Andrighetto is healthy – he scored Thursday in his first game after missing the first six with a leg injury -- the Avalanche have reassigned rookie Sheldon Dries to the Colorado Eagles of the AHL.

The probable lineup:

FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Alexander Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost -- Colin Wilson
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
Sven Andrighetto -- Vladislav Kamenev -- Gabriel Bourque

DEFENSE
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov -- Patrik Nemeth

GOALIES
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov



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