Avalanche center Matt Duchene will play in Game 6. Decision was officially made after the warmup.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said following the morning skate Monday that the decision whether to play him against the Minnesota Wild in Game 6 at the Xcel Energy Center would be made until after the pregame warmup.
Duchene met with team physician Dr. Andrew Parker after skating for the eighth consecutive day.
You just knew that Duchene wanted to play, it was a matter of getting medical clearance.
Duchene, who led the Avalanche in scoring with 70 points (23 goals, 47 assists) in 71 games, sustained an injury to the medial collateral ligament in his left knee March 29 on his first shift against San Jose in a collision with teammate Jamie McGinn.
Roy on Sunday said Duchene would begin on the fourth line and be used on power plays if he was in the lineup, but Monday morning he skated with Ryan O'Reilly and PA Parenteau.
The Avalanche has a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series and needs one win to clinch. The home team has won every game so far.
"We know we're going to have to be desperate ourselves," Roy said.
How the lineups could look:
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, Stefan Elliott, Brad Malone Injured: Tyson Barrie (knee), John Mitchell (concussion), Cory Sarich (back), Alex Tanguay (hip)
WILD Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Jason Pominville Matt Moulson - Mikko Koivu - Charlie Coyle Nino Niederreiter - Erik Haula - Justin Fontaine Dany Heatley - Kyle Brodziak - Cody McCormick
Ryan Suter - Jonas Brodin Marco Scandella - Jared Spurgeon Clayton Stoner - Nate Prosser
Darcy Kuemper Ilya Bryzgalov
Scratched: Jonathon Blum, Mike Rupp, Stephane Veilleux Injured: Niklas Backstrom (abdominal), Keith Ballard (groin), Josh Harding (illness), Jason Zucker (quad) Suspended: Matt Cooke