Defenseman Erik Johnson won't play Saturday night when the Avalanche meet Buffalo at the Pepsi Center to open a two-game homestand.
Here are the game notes.
Johnson, who had knee surgery Jan. 26, took part in the morning skate and he stayed on the ice after everyone who will play against the Sabres left for the locker room. Defenseman Ryan Wilson (shoulder), who skated with a red jersey, and backup goalie Reto Berra also stayed.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said Johnson, who will miss his 27th consecutive game, is "getting very close." He said "we'll see" about the possibility of Johnson playing Monday against Edmonton or Wednesday in San Jose when the Avalanche begin a three-game road trip.
Semyon Varlamov will be back in goal against Buffalo (20-46-8), who have the worst record in the NHL and have gone 1-8-3 in their past 12 games.
The Sabres will be without leading scorer Tyler Ennis, who sustained a left shoulder injury Thursday in a 4-3 overtime home loss to Arizona. He has 19 goals and 23 assists. Brian Gionta will take Ennis' place at right wing on the Sabres' top line with left wing Matt Moulson and center Johan Larsson.
Anders Lindback will be in goal for Buffalo.
The Avalanche (34-28-12) have eight games remaining and are 10 points behind Winnipeg for the second wild card spot in the West.
Center Matt Duchene said one of the biggest lessons the Avalanche have learned this season is that it's imperative to have a good start. They didn't have more regulation or overtime wins than regulation losses until Jan. 8 when they were 17-16-8.
"Last year we had such a good start we could pretty much go .500 the rest of the year and make the playoffs and we did better than that," he said. "This year was a complete opposite. You put yourself behind the eight-ball like that, this league is too good. We're not giving up, we're just going to try to win our games and see what happens.
"Last year at this time you walk in the room and the energy's so high from just knowing you're going to play for the Stanley Cup. Chances are slim for us right now and it's tough, but we're professionals and we get paid very well to do what we do and we have to come as professionals every night. We have to put a good product on the ice for the fans. They come and they pay their money and we have to be loyal to them and play for them. We're not out of it and we're not acting like we're out of it."
Duchene said the fact that the Avalanche have played fairly well in the past couple of months makes their current plight even more difficult to take.
"That's the hardest part, that's what's disappointing," he said. "You can say that no matter what happens at the end of the season I know that we've taken strides to work closer to a Stanley Cup. We're going to take so many lessons we learned this year into next season. I know the guys are going to be so hungry in the summer, whether we make the playoffs or not, we just know how big that start is."
Here's the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Alex Tanguay John Mitchell - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Dennis Everberg Jordan Caron - Joey Hishon - Freddie Hamilton
DEFENSEMEN Jan Hejda - Zach Redmond Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie Nick Holden - Brad Stuart
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Reto Berra