Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Nathan MacKinnon will be back on the top line Wednesday, centering Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, when Colorado completes its two-game set with the Arizona Coyotes at Ball Arena.
The star center missed the previous three games with a head injury he sustained March 3 on a hit by San Jose Sharks forward Joachim Blichfeld, who was assessed a match penalty and served a two-game suspension..
Here are the GAME NOTES.
“For a few days now I feel good,… MacKinnon said after the morning skate. “Good for a few days, feel great, so I’m going to play tonight.…
MacKinnon, who has 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in 19 games, said he wasn’t aware that Blichfeld had been suspended.
“I didn’t even know he got two games,… he said. “I wasn’t paying attention. Obviously, it wasn’t a great hit, but I think that’s fair, I wasn’t really hurt that bad, so it is what it is. He didn’t mean to and it was just an unfortunate play.…
The Avalanche outshot the Coyotes 35-14 on Monday in a 3-2 loss. They’ve gone 1-1-1 in the first three games of a nine-game homestand.
“I think we just need to find a way to score more goals, get our offense going like it usually is,… MacKinnon said. “We’re usually top five, six in goals (in the NHL) every year. Coming into training camp we wanted to improve on defense and we have, and that shouldn’t affect our offense. If anything, it should make it better. Seems like we’re playing super safe. We’re trying to score, we just got to find ways to shoot the puck in the net.…
Philipp Grubauer will make his 20th start after allowing three goals on 14 shots Monday,; two of the goals came on deflections by Avalanche defensemen.
Antti Raanta will start for the Coyotes. He stopped all 16 third-period shots Monday after Darcy Kuemper left with a lower-body injury. Kuemper returned to Arizona for further evaluation and is week-to-week, Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said.
Arizona has won five straight road games.
The lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Brandon Saad -- Nazem Kadri -- Andre Burakovsky Valeri Nichushkin -- Tyson Jost -- Joonas Donskoi Matt Calvert -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Logan O’Connor
DEFENSE Dan Renouf -- Devon Toews Jacob MacDonald -- Samuel Girard Ryan Graves -- Greg Pateryn
GOALIES Philipp Grubauer Hunter Miska