The Avalanche's reconfigured defense makes its debut Tuesday in Vancouver, the first game of a three-game road trip through western Canada.
Here are the
GAME NOTES.
Injuries to
Mark Barberio, Erik Johnson and
Anton Lindholm -- they're back in Colorado -- forced the Avalanche to recall
Andrei Mironov and
David Warsofsky from San Antonio of the AHL. Mironov won't play against the Canucks, but Warsofsky will suit up along with
Duncan Siemens, who was recalled last week.
Barberio has a lower-body injury, and Johnson and Lindholm sustained upper-body injuries Sunday against Edmonton.
Coach Jared Bednar said Monday that he'd be "experimenting" with the defense pairings, hoping to find a good fit.
Jonathan Bernier (concussion protocol) also remains in Colorado, so
Andrew Hammond will dress as
Semyon Varlamov's backup for the second game in a row.
Bednar intends to play Varlamov indefinitely.
"We need our goaltending to be exceptional, and he has been pretty good, so he gives us the best chance to win right now," Bednar said. "So we will probably ride him here a little bit and see what he can do."
Nail Yakupov will replace
Dominic Toninato on the fourth line.
The lineup:
FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Gabriel Bourque -- Alexander Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher
Colin Wilson -- Tyson Jost -- Nail Yakupov
DEFENSE
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth -- Samuel Girard
Duncan Siemens -- David Warsofsky
GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Andrew Hammond
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