Avalanche coach Jared Bednar isn't very happy with Nikita Zadorov.

Bednar said earlier in the week that he expects Zadorov to play a lot better than he has, and on Thursday said the big defenseman could be a healthy scratch for Friday's game in Las Vegas.

"That's possible," Bednar said after practice. "We're still talking about a couple things with our lineup."

Zadorov and fellow Russian defenseman Andrei Mironov were given a bag skate after practice. Mironov was recalled Monday and didn't play Tuesday, so his skate was likely more for conditioning purposes.

As for Zadorov, he played 16:08 in the 5-3 win against Dallas, the fewest minutes for any Avalanche defenseman, and was minus-1. He played what for him was a season-low 15:31 the previous game against St. Louis and also was minus-1; he's been a minus player in three consecutive games.

Anton Lindholm was paired with Erik Johnson at practice, Patrik Nemeth was back with Tyson Barrie after missing Tuesday's game because of a lower-body injury, and Mark Barberio was with Chris Bigras.

The Avalanche won't have a morning skate Friday because of the early start -- 3 p.m. PT; it's Nevada Day, a state holiday to commemorate its admission into the U.S. on Oct. 31, 1864.

Semyon Varlamov will start in goal against the surprising Golden Knights, who are off to a 7-1-0 start in their first NHL season.

"Well, it is a business trip for us," Bednar said. "We're going in here tonight, I'm sure the guys will go out for dinner, walk around a little bit. This is a top team in the league right now and playing real well at home with an extremely strong work ethic. We have to be ready."

Bednar said Vegas coach Gerard Gallant has always had teams with a solid work ethic, using his nickname "Turk."

"You look at the teams Turk's had, always a hard-working group," he said. "I think they did a real good job in the expansion process. They got some good players and they're dangerous. Mix their skill level and their work ethic, and I'm not real surprised."

Bednar said J.T. Compher, out with a broken thumb, could return in as little as three weeks.

"The positive side to that injury is that he gets to skate every day and keep his legs and stay conditioned," he said. "He's going to get evaluated again next week and they'll look at it. We've talked about getting a playing brace so he can start feeling the puck a little bit so when they give him the clearance that he's basically ready to go for us. I'm guessing that three-week mark, Sweden trip. I'm speculating a little bit there."



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