Pavel Francouz gets the start in goal Friday when the Avalanche play Pittsburgh at the Pepsi Center to begin a five-game homestand.
Francouz made 32 saves Monday in the Avalanche’s 1-0 road loss to the New York Islanders. He’s lost two in a row after going 9-0-1 in his previous 10 decisions.
“We feel like he gives us a good option to win the hockey game,… coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate. “He hasn’t played in a little bit and he’s played well when he’s been in.…
The Avalanche have lost two games in a row and are 3-6-1 in the past 10 after going 9-1-1 in the previous.
Bednar said forward Joonas Donskoi is “feeling better… and skated on his own before the Avalanche went on the ice. He is going through concussion protocol after taking a big hit from Ryan Lindgren on Tuesday against the New York Rangers.
Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar is a Last Men In candidate to join Nathan MacKinnon on the Central Division team for the 2020 NHL All-Star Game. He’s second among NHL rookies in scoring with 32 points (nine goals, 23 assists) in 36 games.
Voting ends Friday at 9:59 p.m. MT.
Fans can vote at NHL.com/Vote or on a mobile interactive ballot on the NHL app.
The lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Andre Burakovsky -- Nazem Kadri -- Valeri Nichushkin Matt Nieto -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Matt Calvert Vladislav Kamenev -- Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher
DEFENSE Ryan Graves -- Cale Makar Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson Ian Cole -- Nikita Zadorov
GOALIES Pavel Francouz Philipp Grubauer