Nazem Kadri will return to the Avalanche lineup Wednesday when Philadelphia visits the Pepsi Center, but Philipp Grubauer isn’t quite ready.
Grubauer, who sustained a lower-body injury Saturday in Boston, practiced Tuesday and took part in an optional morning skate Wednesday, but the Avalanche recalled Adam Werner from the Colorado Eagles after the skate.
Pavel Francouz will start. He made 28 saves Monday in the Avalanche’s 5-4 overtime loss to Calgary, after which coach Jared Bednar described his performance as “subpar… but he’s gone 5-0-1 in his past eight appearances with a 2.36 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
Kadri missed the past three games with a lower-body injury, practiced Tuesday and said he is good to go after the morning skate.
“If this was playoff time maybe you’d see a lot of guys play through these injuries, but the fact of the matter is, it’s not,… Kadri said. “It’s a smart time to take some time and rest up because these are things that could linger in the future and you don’t want to make it worse.…
Vladislav Kamenev is the lone healthy scratch.
Cale Makar, who sustained an upper-body injury Saturday in Boston, skated for the second day in a row while wearing a no-contact jersey. He won’t play against the Flyers and Bednar said he is “doubtful… for Friday against New Jersey. He has been stickhandling but not shooting.
The projected lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Andre Burakovsky -- Nazem Kadri -- Joonas Donskoi Matt Calvert -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Valeri Nichushkin Matt Nieto -- Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher
DEFENSE Nikita Zadorov -- Samuel Girard Ryan Graves -- Ian Cole Calle Rosen -- Mark Barberio
GOALIES Pavel Francouz Adam Werner