Philipp Grubauer will make his second start in a row when the Avalanche face Carolina at the Pepsi Center on Monday.
Grubauer made 18 saves Saturday in Colorado’s 3-0 win against Buffalo in the first game of the four-game homestand. He’s tossed shutouts in two of his past three starts, including a 38-save effort Feb. 23 in a 5-0 win in Nashville.
“He’s given us real quality starts here,” coach
Jared Bednar said after the morning skate. “He was great the other night, made some key saves early in the game, made all the saves he needed to make. We’re going to go back to him and give (
Semyon Varlamov) a little bit of a mental break and see if we can ride a hot goalie.”
The
GAME NOTES
Grubauer has turned aside 90 of 93 shots in his past five games (three starts), going 2-1-0 with a .968 save percentage.
Grubauer made 42 saves against the Hurricanes in Raleigh in a 3-1 win on Oct. 20. He has a 5-2-1 career record against Carolina with a 2.50 goals-against average and .930 save percentage.
The Avalanche, who are two points behind Minnesota for the second wild card playoff position in the Western Conference, are 5-0-1 in the past six home games.
"It's going to be really important for us to continue to play well at home,”
Tyson Barrie said. “We've got (eight) home games left and if we continue to play well at home, maybe that's going to give us the slight advantage we need to try and get into the playoffs."
The Avalanche also trail Arizona by a point. The Coyotes play in Chicago on Monday.
Carolina would move into third place in the Metropolitan Division with a win. The Hurricanes, who trail Pittsburgh by two points, are 6-1-1 in their past eight games and 9-2-1 in 12.
Goalie
Petr Mrazek will start. He’s won five in a row with a 1.99 goals-against average and .935 save percentage and is 2-0-2 against the Avalanche in his career with a shutout, 1.28 goals-against average and .948 save percentage.
*****
Buffalo’s
Jack Eichel has been given a two-game suspension by
NHL Player Safety for his hit to
Carl Soderberg’s head in Saturday’s game.
Soderberg didn’t want to comment, but Bednar said: “It’s good, didn’t surprise me at all. After looking at the hit live and checking the replay, I think it’s deserving. I think it’s the right call.”
*****
The lineup:
Derick Brassard -- Nathan MacKinnon -- J.T. Compher
Colin Wilson -- Carl Soderberg - Mikko Rantanen
Alexander Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost -- Matt Calvert
Gabriel Bourque - Andrew Agozzino -- Sven Andrighetto
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov -- Patrik Nemeth
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
Join the Discussion:
»