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Stastny in, Mitchell out as Avs face streaking Bruins |
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Rick Sadowski
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Paul Stastny will return to the Avalanche lineup for Friday night's game against the Boston Bruins, but John Mitchell will miss his second game in a row after hurting his back Tuesday in Montreal.
Stastny sat out four games with his back injury, returned against the Canadiens and didn't dress Wednesday in Winnipeg because it was -- no pun intended -- a back-to-back situation.
"He was perfect in Montreal and he could have played in Winnipeg," coach Patrick Roy said Friday morning. "It was the team doctor's decision not to play him back to back, especially with the traveling. John will remain as day to day. It could be two days, it could be 10 days."
Stastny will center his usual line with Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, but the Avalanche will use defenseman Tyson Barrie as a right wing for the second game in a row. He'll skate on the third line with Cody McLeod and Max Talbot.
The Avalanche is third in the Central Division, one point behind second-place Chicago, which plays Friday against Carolina.
The Bruins have won 10 games in a row since a 4-2 loss to Washington on March 1 and can clinch a Stanley Cup playoff position with a win against the Avalanche. They also would clinch with a point if the New York Rangers lose in regulation to Columbus.
"Certainly these guys are playing great," Landeskog said. "They're playing probably their best hockey this season. For us, we're playing well too, except for (the just-completed road trip). The Montreal and Winnipeg games we're not too happy about. At the same time, we've done a good job putting ourselves in a good position for the (playoff) push. Our goal hasn't changed a bit. We want to climb in the standings and make sure we have home ice for the playoffs."
The Avalanche went 1-1-1 on the trip, beating Ottawa 3-1 before losing to Montreal 6-3 and to Winnipeg 5-4 in overtime.
"We have a little extra motivation just because of the way the last two games on the road went," Matt Duchene said. "You're going to see two real good teams going at it. They've been real hot lately, so we want to put an end to their streak. It doesn't matter whether it's home ice or not, you want to finish as high as possible, whether that's second or first (in the division). St. Louis is pretty far ahead, so it'll be tough to catch them.
"We have tremendous respect for (the Bruins) because they're a top team in the league, but we don't give them too much respect. We believe this should be a good game tonight and one that we can win. We want to crank it up."
Semyon Varlamov will start in goal and Jean-Sebastien Giguere will be the backup as Reto Berra continues to work with goalie coach Francois Allaire. Berra made his Avalanche debut against the Jets and made 22 saves.
"We certainly can use his experience in the playoffs and Stanley Cup (finals)," Roy said of Giguere. "Right now I'm planning to have him as a backup. He's been good for Varly all year. They have a great relationship.
"(Berra) works hard. There's things that we're going to have to work on. I'm not trying to work on his technique because this is Francois' job. Francois will work with his technique."
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Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk, who has missed two games with a foot injury, will be a game-time decision. Goalie Chad Johnson is expected to start. He's won four consecutive games and has permitted two goals or fewer eight times while posting a 9-0-1 record in his past 10 decisions.
Here's the Avalanche lineup (Berra and Ryan Wilson will be the scratches):
FORWARDS
Ryan O'Reilly - Matt Duchene - Jamie McGinn
Gabriel Landeskog - Paul Stastny - Nathan MacKinnon
Cody McLeod - Max Talbot - Tyson Barrie
Brad Malone - Marc-Andre Cliche - Patrick Bordeleau
DEFENSE
Jan Hejda -- Erik Johnson
Andre Benoit -- Cory Sarich
Nick Holden - Nate Guenin
GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
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