The Avalanche open a home-and-home series with Chicago at the United Center on Friday before facing the Blackhawks again on Saturday at the Pepsi Center.
Forward Andre Burakovsky didn’t make the trip to the Windy City, having sustained an upper-body injury Wednesday in the Avalanche’s 4-1 win against Edmonton.
Coach Jared Bednar said on Thursday that Burakovsky is day-to-day. It isn’t known if he’ll be available Saturday.
It’s another big loss for an Avalanche team that can’t seem to catch a break. Burakovsky was off to a great start with 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in the first 23 games.
The positive news is that right wing Mikko Rantanen is expected to return Saturday from the leg/ankle injury that will have caused him to miss 16 games.
Matt Nieto replaced Burakovsky on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Joonas Donskoi in the third period Wednesday and scored the tie-breaking goal. He was given a maintenance day Thursday but made the trip and is expected to skate on the top line again.
"He’s a trusted guy for me," Bednar said of Nieto, who has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 24 games. "He hasn’t had a great month, but generally when you give him a real good assignment, he’s a guy that elevates his game. He’s a guy that can skate with MacKinnon. I like his pace to his game.“
Defenseman Erik Johnson (lower-body injury) won’t play in either game against the Blackhawks. He was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 23.
The Avalanche recalled forwards Sheldon Dries and A.J. Greer from the Colorado Eagles.
Possible lineup:
FORWARDS Matt Nieto -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Joonas Donskoi Tyson Jost -- Nazem Kadri -- J.T. Compher Valeri Nichushkin -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Logan O’Connor Sheldon Dries -- Vladislav Kamenev -- T.J. Tynan
DEFENSE Nikita Zadorov – Cale Makar Samuel Girard – Calle Rosen Ryan Graves -- Ian Cole
GOALIES Pavel Francouz Philipp Grubauer Follow @RickS7