Semyon Varlamov will start Sunday in Detroit when the Avalanche open a four-game road trip. The GAME NOTES.
Varlamov made 34 saves Friday in the Avalanche’s 3-2 overtime loss to St. Louis at the Pepsi Center. He’s gone 5-0-1 in his past six starts and owns a 9-5-3 overall record with a 2.36 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.
The best news for the Avalanche is that defenseman Erik Johnson wasn't suspended for his hit against St. Louis’ Alexander Steen in the second period. Johnson was assessed a five-minute elbowing penalty and game misconduct.
The Avalanche already are without defensemen Tyson Barrie (lower-body injury) and Mark Barberio (upper-body injury) and couldn’t afford to lose Johnson, who hit Steen high after the Blues forward already had released the puck. The hit, which didn’t appear to involve Johnson’s elbow, was in retaliation for Steen’s clean open-ice hit against Nathan MacKinnon.
Steen, who was playing his second game after missing six games with a concussion, didn’t play Saturday in the Blues’ 6-1 loss in Arizona.
Barrie skated Sunday but will miss his third game.
The Avalanche (15-6-5, 35 points) have gone 8-0-2 in their past 10 games and trail Western Conference-leading Nashville by two points; the Predators have played one more game and have three more wins.
After losing nine of their first 10 games (1-7-2), the Red Wings (12-11-3, 27 points) have gone 11-4-1 to close within two points of Montreal for the second wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Detroit is coming off a 4-2 win against Boston on Saturday.
Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen had a goal Friday to stretch his point streak to seven games. He has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in the streak and leads the NHL in scoring with 43 points. He's tied with Toronto’s Mitchell Marner for the assist lead with 32.
Former Avalanche goalie Jonathan Bernier is expected to start for the Red Wings. He has a 3-5-0 record with a 3.63 goals-against average and .892 save percentage.
The Avalanche lineup:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Tyson Jost -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Colin Wilson Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert Sven Andrighetto – Vladislav Kamenev -- J.T. Compher
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson Nikita Zadorov -- Ian Cole Patrik Nemeth – Mark Alt
Semyon Varlamov Philipp Grubauer