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Avs set for battered Blues

October 31, 2014, 4:56 PM ET [7 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Avalanche will be meeting a wounded St. Louis Blues team Saturday in a one-game trip before heading home to meet the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday at the Pepsi Center.

Former Avalanche center Paul Stastny, who signed a four-year, $28 million contract with the Blues as a free agent, will miss his sixth consecutive game because of a shoulder injury; shootout king T.J. Oshie will sit out his second game in a row with a concussion; and center David Backes is questionable, also because of a concussion.

A number of Blues players have been hit with an illness, including Joakim Lindstrom, who is questionable for Saturday's game.

"We're in scramble mode right now," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Even so, the Blues have won three games in a row against quality opponents -- Chicago, Dallas and Anaheim -- and will take a 5-3-1 record into the game. So they're a resilient bunch.

Backes, a 6-foot-3, 223-pounder who is difficult to handle for any team, did skate Friday and Hitchcock said his status would be determined Saturday morning.

The Blues are coming off a 2-0 win against the Ducks. Goalie Jake Allen made 24 saves, but Brian Elliott is likely to get the call in goal against the Avalanche. He's gone 3-2-1 with one shutout, a 1.98 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.

Semyon Varlamov is on a roll and will make his fifth consecutive start for the Avalanche. He's stopped 89 of 91 shots (.978 save percentage) in the past two games and 141 of 148 shots (.953) in the past four during a personal 2-0-2 streak.

"He’s deserved a lot more than he’s gotten this season," Matt Duchene said after Varlamov made 40 saves Thursday in the 5-0 win against the New York Islanders. "He’s played so well for us, especially in the last few games. Really, really happy to see him have such a good game."

Varlamov has a 2-2-3 record for the season with a 2.51 goals-against average and .934 save percentage. His 10 career shutouts with the Avalanche (he had four with Washington) are third behind Patrick Roy (37) and David Aebischer (13). His 40-save shutout against the Islanders was the first by an Avalanche goalie since Roy had 41 in a 3-0 win against Anaheim on Nov. 15, 2000.

The Avalanche have picked up at least one point in five consecutive games (2-0-3) and snake-bit Nathan MacKinnon finally broke through with his first two goals after drawing blanks in the first 10 games.

Of course, they just can't keep giving up so many shots on a nightly basis. Varlamov is only human after all.

Roy gave the team off Friday and he'll go with the lineup he used against the Islanders:

FORWARDS
Landeskog - Duchene - O'Reilly
McGinn - MacKinnon - Iginla
Tanguay - Mitchell - Everberg
McLeod - Cliche - Talbot

DEFENSEMEN
Hejda - Johnson
Holden - Stuart
Guenin - Barrie

GOALIES
Varlamov
Berra

*****

I highly recommend you check out Save by Roy, an in-depth look at the Avalanche's surprising 2013-14 season. It can be purchased on amazon.com and will be available wherever books are sold Nov. 5. It's written by Denver Post sports reporters Adrian Dater and Terry Frei.



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