Fresh off their 6-3 come-from-behind win against Ottawa at the Pepsi Center on Friday, the Avalanche face Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.
The
GAME NOTES.
Semyon Varlamov will start in goal, bringing a 4-1-2 record, 1.56 goals-against average and .953 save percentage into the game. His only regulation loss came Wednesday, a 1-0 defeat to Tampa Bay.
The line of
Gabriel Landeskog (nine goals, six assists),
Nathan MacKinnon (nine goals, nine assists) and
Mikko Rantanen (five goals, 15 assists) combined for three goals and seven assists Friday. The trio spearheaded a comeback from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits (along with three assists from
Tyson Barrie) to spoil
Matt Duchene’s return to Denver.
Goalie
Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves in his first home start.
Rantanen has taken over the NHL scoring lead with 20 points (five goals, 15 assists), MacKinnon is second with 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) and Landeskog is tied for fifth with 15 points (nine goals, six assists). He has a league-high four game-winning goals.
The Avalanche didn’t have a morning skate Saturday after traveling late Friday, and there’s been no word on the status of forward
Tyson Jost. Coach
Jared Bednar said after the game that Jost was being examined after taking a hit.
If Jost doesn’t play,
Gabriel Bourque would replace him on the fourth line. Bourque was a healthy scratch Friday. The only other healthy scratch was defenseman
Mark Barberio.
Back-to-back games are always a challenge, and the Avalanche will be playing their seventh game (fifth on the road) in a 12-game stretch.
“This is a real tough game schedule-wise,” Bednar said Friday night. “You can circle a handful of games on the schedule that are real tough, and this is one. They’re sitting and waiting for us and we're at the end of one of our busiest stretches of the year.
“It’s a tough one. Hopefully getting the points (Friday) – we pushed some of our guys real hard to get these points – hopefully we’ll give them as much rest as we possibly can and get them ready to go for (Saturday).
“It's a rivalry game for us. We know there's no love lost between us and Minny, so hopefully we can push through one more and get at least two days off before we hit our next opponent.”
The Avalanche will be off Sunday and Monday, resuming practice Tuesday. They have another set of back-to-back games Thursday and Friday in Calgary and Vancouver, respectively.
*****
The Avalanche put a very brief tribute to Duchene on the Jumbotron during a commercial break in the first period. He responded by standing on the bench, waving and clapping as most of the Pepsi Center crowd applauded and his former teammates tapped their sticks on the boards. He scored the first of his two goals shortly after for a 2-0 Ottawa lead.
“My favorite part, for me, was the tribute and the reception from the fans,” Duchene said. “Meant a lot to me. I teared up.”
Duchene tweeted the following after the game:
In case you missed it, Duchene’s
DUCHENE’S PREGAME INTERVIEW is included here.
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