The Avalanche will have a new look when they play Vancouver at the Pepsi Center on Saturday in both teams' first game following NHL All-Star Weekend and the league-mandated break.
The top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, which has combined for 199 points (79 goals, 120 assists), will be broken up again.
Based on practice Friday, centers MacKinnon and Carl Soderberg will swap linemates. MacKinnon will anchor Alexander Kerfoot and Colin Wilson, while Soderberg will skate with Landeskog and Rantanen.
While Landeskog and Rantanen took part in the on-ice activities during All-Star Weekend, MacKinnon didn't because of a bruised foot but still captained the Central Division team. He practiced Friday and is set to play against the Canucks.
Landeskog, MacKinnon and Rantanen have accounted for 46.7 percent of the Avalanche’s 169 goals.
“Our top line’s been together for most of the year and they’ve been doing a real nice job,… coach Jared Bednar told reporters. “They continue to click along, and the team hasn’t had a lot of success here recently, so we’re trying something new.
“I’ve talked to those guys about it and they’re really open to it. We’ll try and put some combinations together that give us a little bit of depth and see if we can get some of those top guys to drag some of our other guys along and get us moving in the right direction and get some guys excited about playing with them.
“We’ll give it a try. (The top line will) still see time together, no question, but we’ll also play them apart and see how that goes.…
J.T. Compher will center Matt Nieto and Matt Calvert, Sheldon Dries will center Sven Andrighetto and Gabriel Bourque.
Defenseman Mark Barberio (head injury) practiced while wearing a red, non-contact jersey.
Forward Tyson Jost sustained an undisclosed injury while playing with the AHL Colorado Eagles and is receiving medical attention from the Avalanche. He has three goals and an assist in six games with the Eagles.
We'll find out Saturday morning whether Semyon Varlamov or Philipp Grubauer will start in goal.
Varlamov ranks 22nd in goals-against average (2.82) and 25th in save percentage (.908) among NHL goalies with a minimum of 20 games while Grubauer is 39th in goals-against average (3.38) and 40th in save percentage (.891). He’s allowed 11 goals on 48 shots in his past two starts.
Yet despite finishing December and January with a 7-14-3 record and losing 12 of the past 15 games (3-10-2), the Avalanche are still hanging onto the second wild card playoff spot in the Western Conference.
By the proverbial thread. They have a 22-20-8 record and 52 points; Vancouver also has 52 points but has played one more game.
"All things considered, we are in a decent spot, not as good as where we should have been from our start, but we are in a playoff position and we control our own destiny," MacKinnon said.