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Rantanen OK, will play Monday; Johnson has concussion |
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Rick Sadowski
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Right wing Mikko Rantanen will play Monday against Nashville at the Pepsi Center after tweaking his right leg Saturday in the Avalanche’s 7-1 win against Los Angeles, but defenseman Erik Johnson will sit out because of a concussion.
Rantanen, the NHL’s second-leading scorer with 73 points, practiced Sunday and pronounced himself fit to play against the Predators.
“Everything is fine,” said Rantanen, who sat out the third period Saturday after grimacing while holding his right knee following his second goal of the game with 5:25 left in the second period.
“It was because the score was what it was (7-0) and we had a good two periods and there was no point to do anything stupid," he said. "It’s good for (Monday).”
Rantanen has five points (three goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak and 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in the past seven games. He has 23 goals and 50 assists in 48 games overall.
“Sigh of relief for everyone, including me,” coach Jared Bednar said. “Mikko’s such a big part of our team. He felt good this morning and wanted to practice, so he’ll be in.”
Team captain and linemate Gabriel Landeskog said after the game that he thought Rantanen would be fine.
“I told you guys there’s no need to worry about him,” Landeskog said Sunday. “He’s a big boy (6-feet-4, 215 pounds) and he can handle himself. It looked a little scary when he went down, but he’s fine. He looked good this morning.”
Johnson was injured early in the first period when he was struck in the head with a puck. He is undergoing concussion protocol, meaning he likely will also miss Wednesday’s game against Minnesota, after which the Avalanche will be off for the NHL All-Star break and the league’s mandated five-day break.
The Avalanche’s first game when they return is Feb. 2 against Vancouver.
“I’m encouraged by the way (Johnson) is feeling this morning, that it’s not going to be long term,” Bednar said. “We have an eight-, nine-day break here, so even if he misses the next two games we’re hoping he’s going to be back and ready to roll as soon as we come out of the break.”
The Avalanche called up defenseman Anton Lindholm and forward Dominic Toninato from the AHL Colorado Eagles, giving them an extra defenseman and an extra forward.
Bednar no longer discloses his lineup, but Ian Cole could move up to pair with Samuel Girard, with Nikita Zadorov moving up to pair with Tyson Barrie. That leaves Mark Barberio, Patrik Nemeth and Lindholm on defense.
The Avalanche are 2-0-1 in the past three games after losing nine of the previous 10 games (1-7-2). They haven’t won two games in a row since Nov. 27-28 against Nashville and Pittsburgh.
“We’ve played two real strong games out of our last three, and we know how that can snowball,” Bednar said. “It starts with our focus and our effort. I thought we followed it up today with another real good practice. It’s real important for us to find some consistency on practice days and game days.”
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