Vladislav Kamenev will make his season debut, and Semyon Varlamov and Patrik Nemeth return to the lineup Thursday night when the Avalanche play in Buffalo to conclude their two-game road trip.
The GAME NOTES.
Kamenev replaces Sheldon Dries on the fourth line and Nemeth draws in for Mark Barberio.
The Avalanche (2-1-0) are coming off a 5-2 loss to Columbus on Tuesday when they played poorly in the first and third periods. They were especially weak in front of goalie Philipp Grubauer, who stopped 30 of 34 shots before the Blue Jackets scored an empty-net goal.
“We didn't have a great outing, and (Kamenev) is a guy that we want to take a look at," coach Jared Bednar told reporters. "After a good outing and winning hockey games, you want to try and keep the lineup the same, see if you can continue on. In this case, we weren't as good as we wanted to be."
Varlamov (2-0-0) has a 6-2-1 career record against Buffalo with one shutout, a 2.46 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.
Carter Hutton will start for the Sabres (2-1-0). He has a 5-1-0 record against the Avalanche with a 2.24 average and .925 save percentage; those games came when he played for Nashville and St. Louis. He signed a three-year contract with Buffalo as a free agent July 1.
The lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Alexander Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost -- Colin Wilson Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg – Gabriel Bourque Vladislav Kamenev -- J.T. Compher – Matt Calvert
DEFENSE Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson Ian Cole – Tyson Barrie Nikita Zadorov – Patrik Nemeth
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Philipp Grubauer