|
Landeskog healthy; Wilson close; no suspension for Downie |
|
|
Rick Sadowski
 Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSS
• Archive
• CONTACT
|
|
|
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog practiced Sunday and will be in the lineup Tuesday in Toronto when the team begins a three-game road trip.
"I felt great," said Landeskog, who didn't play Friday against Nashville because of a leg injury he sustained in Wednesday's season opener against Anaheim.
Landeskog said he was hurt in a collision with the Ducks' Corey Perry. "He fell on top of me," Landeskog said. "Tweaked it a little, but it's good."
Landeskog was back at left wing Sunday on a line with center Paul Stastny and Alex Tanguay. John Mitchell, who took Landeskog's spot against the Predators, is expected to move back to center on the fourth line with Cody McLeod and Patrick Bordeleau.
*****
Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's director of player safety, said in a Twitter feed that Downie will not be suspended for his second-period hit against Nashville defenseman Roman Josi in Friday's game.
Josi sustained what the Predators are calling an upper-body injury, and they responded with some hard hits of their own. Defenseman Shea Weber and left wing Gabriel Bourque immediately jumped on Downie for retribution. Downie was assessed a minor penalty for charging. He later took a slashing penalty and was given a double-minor for roughing after an altercation with left wing Eric Nystrom.
As for the hit against Josi, Predators center Paul Gaustad told The (Nashville) Tennessean: "I take issue with that. He’s one of those players who looks for the crowd to cheer him on or something like that. I don’t know … it was a dumb hit and we know who did it. We play these guys several times this year."
After practice Sunday, Downie said it was "a borderline hit." He plays with an edge and certainly has gone over it in his career (three NHL suspensions, including 20 games in 2007 for a hit against Dean McAmmond in a preseason game).
Getting under opponents' skin "is part of my game and means I'm being effective," Downie said. "If it bugs a guy ... I'm going to keep bugging guys."
*****
Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson took part in his first full practice Sunday since sustaining a knee injury in the Sept. 15 Burgundy and White Game.
"Everything went perfect," he said. "Now I just have to get back into game condition. I'm still a little rusty."
Roy said he isn't planning to make any defense changes for Tuesday's game in Toronto. "Right now there's no sense in rushing it," he said. "Ryan needs to get in game shape and the guys are playing well."
The Avalanche will need to trim a defenseman when Wilson is activated to keep the roster at 23 players, the NHL maximum.
"Yes, we'll have to make a decision," said Roy, who added that team president Josh Kroenke and executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic will be on the trip.
*****
Defenseman Stefan Elliott had two goals and an assist Saturday in the Lake Erie Monsters' 3-2 win against Abbotsford in an American Hockey League game. Center Brad Malone had the other goal and goalie Calvin Pickard made 29 saves.
Malone had an excellent training camp with the Avalanche but was sent down because Marc-Andre Cliche was picked up off waivers and Roy only wants to keep one extra forward.
You can be sure the Avalanche will be keeping an eye on Malone and Elliott. Roy wasn't pleased with defenseman Tyson Barrie's play on the power play Friday and replaced him with right wing PA Parenteau on the point on the second unit with defenseman Erik Johnson. Roy has settled on defenseman Andre Benoit and right wing Alex Tanguay as his pointmen on the first unit.
"I was not 100 percent happy with Barrie," Roy said. "Tyson needs to keep his game more simple. When he's losing the puck at the blue line or making bad decisions at the blue line, this is not what we're looking for from him as a quarterback. I think he could be a little bit better in that area."
The Avalanche spent a good deal of Sunday's practice working on the power play. Colorado went 0-for-5 with three shots with the man advantage Friday after converting 2 of 5 chances against Anaheim.
Join the Discussion:
»