Philipp Grubauer will make his fourth consecutive start Thursday when the Avalanche play in Las Vegas as the NHL season resumes play following the Christmas break.
The GAME NOTES.
The Avalanche have lost two games in a row, three of their past four and are 3-6-1 since their 9-0-2 run. They’ve allowed at least four goals in seven of the past 10 games.
Meanwhile, center Nathan MacKinnon has been named captain of the Central Division for the 2019 NHL All-Star Game on Saturday, Jan. 26, at the SAP Center in San Jose.
It will be MacKinnon’s third consecutive All-Star Game appearance.
He will be the first Avalanche player to serve as an All-Star Game captain since Joe Sakic captained the Western Conference team in 2007.
MacKinnon is third in league scoring with 56 points (22 goals, 34 assists) in 37 games.
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Defenseman Ryan Graves, 23, will make his NHL debut after being summoned from the AHL Colorado Eagles, where he had two goals and six assists in 26 games.
The 6-foot-5, 226-pound Graves was acquired last February from the New York Rangers for defenseman Chris Bigras.
Mark Barberio (upper body injury) and Nikita Zadorov (lower body injury) remain out. Graves will be paired with Patrik Nemeth.
The Avalanche reassigned goalie Pavel Francouz, forward A.J. Greer and defenseman Anton Lindholm to the Eagles.
Forwards Colin Wilson and Vladislav Kamenev (both shoulder injuries) will be out long term.
The projected lineup:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Tyson Jost -- Alexander Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert Gabriel Bourque -- Sven Andrighetto -- Sheldon Dries
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie Ryan Graves -- Patrik Nemeth
Philipp Grubauer Semyon Varlamov