Tyson Barrie is expected to be in the Avalanche lineup for Sunday's game against the New York Islanders in Brooklyn.
Barrie has missed the past four games and eight of the past 10 because of a lower-body injury. He took part in the warmup Saturday before the Avalanche's 4-2 loss to the Rangers and should be good to go in the second game of the back-to-back set.
"He skated again (Saturday) and he worked out again," coach Jared Bednar told reporters after the Rangers scored three third-period goals to erase a 2-1 deficit. "I think that if we get the OK for him in the morning, he should be in the lineup."
Here are the GAME NOTES.
The Islanders have gone 7-2-2 since Doug Weight replaced Jack Capuano as coach on Jan. 17. They are three points out of the second wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves Saturday and became the 12th goalie in NHL history to win 400 games.
The Avalanche got goals from Gabriel Landeskog and John Mitchell, but the Rangers rallied for third-period goals from Kevin Klein (his second of the game) and Rick Nash less than three minutes apart to grab the lead. Kevin Hayes closed it out with an empty-net goal.
As I mentioned Saturday, the Avalanche figured to have a tough time keeping the Rangers' offense in check in the third period; they outscored Colorado 3-0 and have outscored teams 77-48 in the third, while the Avalanche have been outscored 64-32.
The Avalanche have lost two in a row following their two-game winning streak, and eight consecutive road games (0-7-1) since a 2-1 overtime win in Chicago on Dec. 23.
“Listen, I know our record overall is not good, it’s horrible," Bednar said. "But at the end of the day, you look at the way we just played over a three-game homestand and we’re a dangerous team. We can be loose, we have nothing to lose, (and) we can be confident from what we just did recently.
"I just wanted us to lay it on the line and let the chips fall where they may at the end of the game, just make a push instead of rolling over. I wanted to make sure we were digging in. I would’ve liked to see it for a full 60 minutes.
"In the third, I didn’t think we were sharp, I didn’t think we were hungry. There wasn’t enough intensity and urgency in the game. In the final eight minutes we turned it back up a notch and then we got hungry again. You can’t come in and play 28-35 minutes and expect to win, especially on the road or anytime, especially for us.…