Calvin Pickard will make his sixth consecutive start in goal Sunday when the Avalanche play in Detroit to close out a three-game road trip, but will this be the end of the line for the 22-year-old rookie?
Here are the
game notes.
Pickard certainly deserves to stay with the Avalanche. He's been terrific while
Semyon Varlamov recovers from his groin injury. But Varlamov is close to returning and might be ready to get back in the lineup as soon as Tuesday when the Avalanche face St. Louis at the Pepsi Center in their final game before the Christmas break.
Coach
Patrick Roy has been saying there's no need to start playing Varlamov until he's 100 percent healthy, especially with the way Pickard has been holding down the fort. Varlamov hasn't played since Dec. 5 in Winnipeg.
Pickard, who made 28 saves Saturday in the Avalanche's 5-1 win in Buffalo, has gone 5-3-2 in his past 10 games with a 1.87 goals-against average and .945 save percentage. He has a 5-5-2 record overall with a 2.16 average that is seventh best in the NHL and a .936 save percentage that is second in the league.
Let's see
Reto Berra match that.
Still, I have a feeling the Avalanche will send Pickard back to Lake Erie in the AHL, where he'll continue to play a ton, once Varlamov is activated from injured reserve and gamble that Berra will be able to give them adequate play as a rarely-used backup.
Roy told the
Denver Post that Pickard is exempt from the NHL's holiday roster freeze that began Friday because he was an emergency callup.
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The Avalanche (11-13-8) are 2-0-2 in their past four games and will be attempting to match their longest winning streak of the season -- two games. They defeated the New York Rangers and New Jersey Nov. 13-15, as well as Carolina and Arizona on Nov. 22-25.
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Like the Avalanche, the Red Wings haven't been scoring many goals lately and will make line changes for Sunday's game. The Red Wings (17-8-8) are third in the Atlantic Division, two points off the lead, but they've scored just five goals during an 0-2-3 streak that includes three shootout losses.
Coach
Mike Babcock is reuniting
Pavel Datsyuk with
Henrik Zetterberg. Justin Abdelkader will complete the unit.
Tomas Tatar will skate with
Riley Sheahan and
Tomas Jurco.
"Last few games we not score much," Datsyuk told Detroit reporters. "It's hard to win when we score one. It's a little bit tough time, frustrating, but we stick together."
Petr Mrazek will start in goal because
Jimmy Howard has a lower-body injury.
The Red Wings have killed 30 of 31 penalties in the past seven games.
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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