The Avalanche will start Monday's game against Los Angeles at the Pepsi Center with the line combinations they used in the third period of Saturday's 4-0 loss to Calgary.
Here are the official notes for the game.
Mikhail Grigorenko will center Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla, with Nathan MacKinnon skating with Andreas Martinsen and Matt Duchene. The Gabriel Landeskog-Carl Soderberg-Blake Comeau line remains intact. John Mitchell will center the fourth line with Cody McLeod and Jack Skille.
"I just feel that gives me flexibility to give them more ice time," Roy said of MacKinnon and Duchene. "They played well in the World Championships together, they played well when they were together (earlier this season). I want to give a shot to Grigorenko to see what he can do and it's a good situation for him to be with Jarome and Alex and we'll see."
Here's the lineup:
FORWARDS Andreas Martinsen - Nathan MacKinnon - Matt Duchene Gabriel Landeskog - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau Alex Tanguay - Mikhail Grigorenko - Jarome Iginla Cody McLeod - John Mitchell - Jack Skille
DEFENSE Francois Beauchemin - Erik Johnson Nick Holden - Tyson Barrie Brandon Gormley - Zach Redmond
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Calvin Pickard
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Roy said he also plans to start Varlamov for the remaining two games on the homestand against St. Louis and Nashville, and in Chicago on Sunday. He was pulled Saturday after giving up four goals on 19 shots. Two goals were scored after giveaways and two on deflections.
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I asked captain Gabriel Landeskog if Iginla's bid for his 600th goal has become a distraction. He said he doesn't think so while acknowledging that he and his teammates would have liked to have seen him score Saturday against Calgary, Iginla's former team.
"Iggy's going to get his 600th when he does," Landeskog said. "We have to focus on winning hockey games. We have to go about this one as just another regular game. When he does get it, it's going to be real exciting for everybody to be a part of it, but as of right now we're focusing on winning hockey games."
Iginla has gone three games without a goal since scoring No. 599 on Dec. 27 against Arizona.
"It's not something that you need to force," Roy said. "I remember when I was trying to win that 300th game and I think it took me three games before it happened. You don't want to focus on that, but focus on the team. He knows we want to win some games because we were closer to Nashville. Now, losing the last game, it put us not in a difficult spot, but there's urgency for us winning hockey games."
The loss to the Flames dropped the Avalanche (18-18-3) six points behind the Predators for the second wild card playoff spot in the West. Nashville doesn't play Monday.
The Kings (25-11-2) will take a five-game winning streak into the Pepsi Center. They have a 12-point lead over second place Arizona in the Pacific Division.
Jhonas Enroth was the first Kings goalie to leave the ice Monday morning, which usually means he's the starter. Jonathan Quick has played in 32 of the Kings' 38 games. He was named the NHL's No. 1 star of the past week and has limited teams to seven goals in a five-game winning streak.