Avalanche center Matt Duchene has been looking forward to getting back on the Pepsi Center ice for a month and finally got his chance Wednesday morning at the pregame skate in preparation for Game 7 against the Minnesota Wild.
It was his first time since March 29, when he sustained a knee injury in a collision with teammate Jamie McGinn on their first shift against San Jose.
Duchene can't wait to get back on the ice for the game.
"It's going to be awesome," he said. "It was so hard for me to watch the intros for the games here and not be able to skate with the boys, so it's really going to be exciting to be a part of it tonight. It'll be fun to be out there in front of the home crowd. They've been unbelievable for us in the series.
"The fans have been amazing in this series and I can't wait to get out and play in front of them tonight. The biggest thing is to relax and enjoy the moment."
Duchene logged nearly 19 minutes of ice time Monday in the Avalanche's 5-2 loss in Minnesota when he played his first game since getting injured. He didn't have a shot on goal but had an assist on a power-play goal by Nick Holden.
"Usually your puck skills go away when you get hurt, but they stayed with me a little bit more this time," said Duchene, who will skate on a line with Ryan O'Reilly and PA Parenteau. "In terms of my foot speed and my skating, it has a long way to go. Hopefully we win tonight and I can continue to improve on that.
"I'm good enough to play, that's the bottom line. No excuses. I'm going to bring what I can to the table and do whatever I can to help the team. It's a great challenge not only for our team but for me personally, getting thrown right into the middle of a series late and in elimination games. It's a challenge."
Duchene said this will be the first Game 7 he has ever played at any level, not counting when he was a child and pretending to be Joe Sakic or Peter Forsberg playing with his friends in the driveway.
"Those were my two favorite players growing up," he said. "To be able to play for the Avs now, I've said it many times is a dream come true. To play in a Game 7 is that much more special."
Duchene does remember the Avalanche's Game 7 win against New Jersey in 2001 to win the team's second Stanley Cup.
"I remember every moment of that game," he said. "I was 10 years old sitting on the couch and when (Alex Tanguay) scored I had a big bowl of popcorn in my lap. I jumped up and it went everywhere."
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Coach Patrick Roy is going back to rookie Joey Hishon and will use him to center the third line with McGinn and Max Talbot.
Hishon, 22, was the Avalanche's first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2010 draft. He made his NHL debut in Game 4 of the series at the Xcel Energy Center after being called up from the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League. He also played in Game 5 but was scratched Wednesday.
Roy said he liked what he saw of Hishon, who played 6:31 in his first game and 7:30 in the second with a shot on goal. The Avalanche needs to spread the scoring around.
"I like his offensive skills," Roy said of Hishon, who is an excellent playmaker and stickhandler. "I think he brings more offense to our team. I like the way he's been playing. I like the way he played the last two games. We need everybody."
Hishon was called up from Lake Erie of the AHL a week ago and now he's playing in the Avalanche's most important game of the season.
"A week ago I hadn't played my first NHL game and now it's Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, so it's pretty crazy," he said. "I'm going to be ready to go. I'm going to do everything I possibly can. I've prepared myself to play hockey and to perform as good as I can and help this team win." Hishon said he played in one Game 7, when Owen Sound defeated Mississauga St. Michael's 3-2 in double overtime to win the Ontario Hockey League championship in 2011.
"It's a huge honor that Patrick is showing some confidence in me and I have to prove him right and I want to make the most of my opportunity," he said. "I've tried to work hard every day and do what I can to stay in the lineup. That's where I'm at right now. My confidence is high right now and I have to ride that out and continue to play as hard as I can. Those two games I did play I felt I belonged."
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Rookie Nathan MacKinnon has collected all 10 of his playoff points (two goals, eight assists) at home. He had four shots and was a minus-2 in the three road games, but that included being on the ice for two empty-net goals in Game 6.
"I wanted to play better on the road and I didn't," he said. "I didn't play that great, but that's over with. All that matters is this home game. I don't know if I'm going to get a point tonight and I don't really care. I just want to win and move on to the next series. That's everybody's mindset."
MacKinnon said his only previous Game 7 experience came while playing for Halifax in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League against Roy's Quebec Remparts.
"I was 16 and we came out on top," he said. "I feel good, I feel confident. I think everybody's ready to go. Nothing else really matters. This is it, both of our seasons are on the line and it's pretty exciting."
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD Zach Parise-Mikko Koivu-Charlie Coyle Nino Niederreiter-Mikael Granlund-Jason Pominville Matt Moulsonl-Erik Haula-Dany Heatley Stephane Veilleux-Kyle Brodziak-Cody McCormick
Ryan Suter-Jonas Brodin Marco Scandella-Jared Spurgeon Clayton Stoner-Nate prosser
Darcy Kuemper Ilya Brzgalov
Scratched: Jonathon Blum, Justin Fontaine, Mike Rupp Injured: Niklas Backstrom (abdominal), Keith Ballard (groin), Josh Harding (illness), Jason Zucker (quad) Suspended: Matt Cooke
AVALANCHE Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-Nathan MacKinnon Ryan O’Reilly-Matt Duchene-PA Parenteau Jamie McGinn-Joey Hishon-Max Talbot Cody McLeod-Marc-Andre Cliche-Patrick Bordeleau
Jan Hejda-Erik Johnson Nate Guenin-Ryan Wilson Andre Benoit-Nick Holden
Semyon Varlamov Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Scratched: Reto Berra, Paul Carey, Brad Malone, Stefan Elliott Injured: Tyson Barrie (knee), John Mitchell (concussion) Cory Sarich (back), Alex Tanguay (hip surgery)