Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov has a lower-body injury and will miss both weekend games before the Christmas break, Friday against Chicago at the Pepsi Center and Saturday at Arizona.
Zadorov was injured early in the second period Wednesday in the Avalanche’s 2-1 win against Montreal; he only played one minute, leaving the Avalanche with five defensemen the rest of the way.
“Muscular, so I would consider him day-to-day, but he won’t play in these next two games,… coach Jared Bednar said Thursday. “I think he just tweaked something.…
With Mark Barberio still sidelined because of an upper-body injury, the Avalanche were going to recall a defenseman from the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League.
Bednar said Philipp Grubauer, who made 35 saves against the Canadiens, will start Friday. Semyon Varlamov will start Saturday, even though he’s lost three of his past four decisions and allowed 21 goals in parts of 13 periods in his past five starts.
Grubauer, who has gone 8-0-3 in his past 11 starts, lowered his goals-against average to a still too high 3.05 and raised his save percentage to .904.
“Grubi just looked like he was in control of the game, looked real confident and steady in there,… Bednar said.
The big line produced both goals and all three assists. Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, Gabriel Landeskog scored the tie-breaking goal 35 seconds into the third period, and Nathan MacKinnon had two assists.
Rantanen continues to lead the NHL in scoring with 58 points and in assists with 42. MacKinnon is second in scoring with 55 points, and Landeskog leads the team with 23 goals, three shy of his career high.
Attempting to get some production from the second line, Bednar said he’ll move Alexander Kerfoot and Colin Wilson to the unit with J.T. Compher. They finished the game Wednesday.
“I think they earned the right to go back together,… he said.
That leaves Tyson Jost, Sven Andrighetto, Gabriel Bourque and Sheldon Dries as the fourth-line candidates. Jost, the No. 10 pick in the 2016 NHL draft, has one assist in the past 10 games and one goal in the past 17. He didn’t have a shot on goal Wednesday despite getting power-play time.
“There’s going to be some competition for that second line, some ice time, because I think with our team sort of stumbling along – we’ve been good and bad – we’re going to shorten the bench for the next couple days,… Bednar said.
“I look at who’s going and who’s playing the right way, whose intensity level, energy level, details are tight. Who’s ever getting the job done is going to play more.…