Semyon Varlamov spent time in the crease taking shots Saturday morning from Chris Bigras, Gabriel Bourque and Anton Lindholm during a very limited optional skate and later said he isn't ready to play, so Jonathan Bernier gets his fourth consecutive start when the Avalanche meet Calgary at the Pepsi Center to open a five-game homestand.
The only other player on the ice was goalie Andrew Hammond, who will dress as the backup.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
"If you're not ready 100 percent, you should not play, should not take a chance," said Varlamov, who is recovering from a three-day illness and whose only full practice in the past week came Thursday.
"I skated by myself (Friday), so it's kind of hard to prepare yourself for a game with one shooter."
The Avalanche has gone 2-0-1 with Bernier, who made 25 saves Friday in a 3-2 shootout loss in Minnesota. He has a 1.60 goals-against average and .937 save percentage in this stretch, which included 28 saves in a 3-0 win against Dallas on Wednesday.
"Bernie's been playing outstanding the last couple games and the team's playing well, scoring lots of goals, playing pretty solid defensively," Varlamov said.
The Avalanche won't practice Sunday, but will have two days after to get ready for Winnipeg on Wednesday, when Varlamov is expected to start.
"That should be enough time to prepare myself for the next game," he said.
The Avalanche are 7-1-1 at home -- the NHL counts a 4-3 overtime loss to Ottawa in Stockholm a home game -- and 7-1-0 at the Pepsi Center with five consecutive wins by a combined score of 25-11.
The Avalanche doesn't like to be reminded, but it was at this time last season when the wheels came off; they had a five-game homestand, went 0-4-1, and never recovered.
"We like the way we've been playing at home, lots of energy," coach Jared Bednar said. "We've gotten off to good starts and we want the same thing tonight. We've got a tough opponent, one that's had a real good road trip, has a good road record, with dangerous guys up front.
"We've got to take advantage of this stretch here because after that it gets tough on the road."
The Flames are 2-2-1 in the first five games of a six-game, 12-day road trip and 6-4-1 on the road overall. Offensively, they're led by the Johnny Gaudreau-Sean Monahan-Michael Ferland line, which has accounted for 72 points (34 goals, 38 assists).
Goalie Mike Smith owns a career 10-1-4 record against the Avalanche, but he's been a workhorse, so rookie David Rittich will make his season debut.
Rittich, 25, was recalled Friday from Stockton of the AHL, where he went 5-1-0 with two shutouts, a 2.17 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.
The Avalanche will use the same lineup they did Friday:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Colin Wilson -- Alexander Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau Sven Andrighetto -- Dominic Toninato -- Nail Yakupov
DEFENSE Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson Andrei Mironov -- Tyson Barrie Nikita Zadorov -- Mark Barberio
GOALIES Jonathan Bernier Andrew Hammond