Have a safe and happy New Year, everyone!
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Avalanche center J.T. Compher has an upper-body injury that will keep him out of the lineup for the remainder of the homestand, starting Sunday against the New York Islanders.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
Compher took a hit in the third period Friday against Toronto, but he remained in the game and scored a power-play goal in overtime to give the Avalanche a 4-3 win.
"He was in some discomfort and it started getting worse," coach Jared Bednar said Sunday. "Tough guy, he finishes the game and ends up getting us the OT winner. (Saturday) he was sore, so we got him looked at. He'll be out this week."
The Avalanche have three games left on the homestand after they play the Islanders, with a bye week starting Jan. 7. The first game after that is Jan. 13 at Dallas.
Fellow rookie Alexander Kerfoot will slide over to center in Compher's spot on the second line. He'll skate with Sven Andrighetto and Nail Yakupov, who was a healthy scratch Friday.
Compher has seven goals and six assists in 31 games. He earlier missed six games with a broken thumb.
Jonathan Bernier will get the start in goal even though Semyon Varlamov has gone 4-1-1 in his past six games, allowing a total of 13 goals.
Also, defenseman Andrei Mironov will replace Anton Lindholm.
The lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Sven Andrighetto -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Nail Yakupov Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau Colin Wilson -- Tyson Jost -- Gabriel Bourque
DEFENSE Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson Patrik Nemeth -- Mark Barberio Samuel Girard -- Andrei Mironov
GOALIES Jonathan Bernier Semyon Varlamov