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Stastny playing vs. Wild; looks like McLeod will too |
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Rick Sadowski
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Good news for the Avalanche:
Center Paul Stastny will play Saturday night against Minnesota at the Pepsi Center after missing two games because of back spasms, and it looks like left wing Cody McLeod won't be suspended for his hit against Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin in Friday's game.
McLeod was assessed a major boarding penalty and game misconduct for the first-period hit, but Brodin was able to return and logged a little more than 20 minutes.
"I didn't expect any call (from the NHL office)," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said Saturday morning. "It was a call that was made on the ice and I was okay with it. I thought it was a little severe, I guess, because I'm working for Colorado. But the call was there and we accept it."
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Stastny took part in an optional skate and probably will play on a line with left wing
Jamie McGinn and PA Parenteau.
"I should be fine," he said. "It was just kind of a day-to-day thing where I didn't want to push it too much, but tonight I'll be good. It was actually something away from hockey; it just acted up. To me, that's a positive. I'd rather it happen away from hockey. I wasn't comfortable doing certain things and I didn't want to put our team in jeopardy. I didn't want to play five minutes and have to leave. You want to be smart about it so it doesn't act up later."
Right wing Alex Tanguay also skated Saturday and looked pretty good. He injured his knee in a Nov. 2 game against Montreal and might be available in a week after the Avalanche completes a three-game trip to western Canada.
"He looks good," Roy said. "He said his knee is really good. I guess maybe a week or so, or maybe two. I don't know. In a week or so he should be back."
It will be longer before defenseman Ryan Wilson can return. He injured his back Nov. 6 against Nashville.
"He's going to have to work hard before coming back," Roy said. "We're going to want him to be in really good shape. I think one of the reasons why he got hurt again is because his conditioning is not at the level it should be. It's not necessarily his fault. He got hurt a lot in the last year and a half or so. I think we're going to have to be patient with him and make sure when he comes back this time he's in super shape."
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The Avalanche is looking to sweep the home-and-home series with the Wild after winning the opening game 3-1 Friday at the Xcel Energy Center.
The Avalanche is in third place in the Central Division with an 18-6-0 record and 36 points. Fourth-place Minnesota (15-8-4) is two points behind and has played three more games. The Avalanche lost four of five games against the Wild last season, and lost both home games.
Roy expects the Wild to come out hard in the first period while trying to duplicate Friday's third period, when the Wild outshot the Avalanche 16-5.
"But we can't focus on that, we have to focus on how we want to play," he said. "We want to have the same kind of start we had the last game. It's a good challenge for our team. Minny is a very good team and they showed a lot of things in that third period."
Semyon Varlamov is scheduled to start in goal for the Avalanche. Niklas Backstrom is the likely starter for the Wild.
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It'll be interesting to see how Roy chooses to use Patrick Bordeleau, who started Friday on a line with John Mitchell and Max Talbot before McLeod was ejected. Bordeleau got ice time with Mitchell and McGinn after McLeod was given a game misconduct and logged a season-high 10:55 while registering five official hits.
"He was good last night," Roy said. "He finished every check. I thought he played very well. He was physical, he was protecting the puck well. I was very happy with him."