Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson will play against the New Jersey Devils tonight at the Pepsi Center after injuring his back Tuesday in Chicago, but center Paul Stastny will miss his second game in a row because of a leg injury.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said Stastny, who skated this morning, might be available for Saturday's game in Nashville. The Avalanche will dress 11 forwards again and seven defensemen.
Defenseman Karl Stollery, who was recalled from Lake Erie of the AHL for a second time, will play tonight. Cory Sarich will be out indefinitely with a back injury and Nate Guenin will be sidelined for another week to 10 days with his ankle injury.
Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who was scratched Tuesday because of back spasms, took part in the morning skate after practicing Wednesday and will back up Semyon Varlamov tonight. Sami Aittokallio was sent back to Lake Erie.
The news seems encouraging for forwards PA Parenteau and Alex Tanguay. They both skated again after skating hard Wednesday and are "getting close" to returning to the lineup, Roy said. Parenteau has missed eight games with a sprained knee and Tanguay has missed 33 games with knee and hip ailments.
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The Avalanche has gone 6-1-1 in the past eight games to solidify its third-place standing in the Central Division, building an eight-point lead over fourth-place Minnesota, which is home tonight against Edmonton. Fifth-place Dallas, which is 14 points behind, is home against Boston.
The Devils are making a playoff push in the Eastern Conference. They're 3-0-2 in their past five games and have moved within one point of the eighth-place New York Rangers for the final postseason berth in the East.
New Jersey will get forward Patrik Elias back tonight. He missed the past seven games with what the team called "total body soreness."
Varlamov has gone 9-0-5 in his past 15 games (14 starts) with a 2.15 goals-against average and .935 save percentage. His last regulation loss came Dec. 10, a 3-1 defeat against Phoenix. Varlamov is 1-1-0 in his career against New Jersey with a 2.02 average and .922 save percentage.
The Avalanche will get its first look at goalie Cory Schneider in a Devils uniform. He went 6-1-1 against Colorado while playing for the Vancouver Canucks with two shutouts, a 1.61 average and .949 save percentage.
Here's the Avalanche lineup for tonight:
FORWARDS Ryan O'Reilly -- Matt Duchene -- Jamie McGinn Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- John Mitchell Cody McLeod -- Marc-Andre Cliche -- Max Talbot Brad Malone -- Patrick Bordeleau
DEFENSE Erik Johnson -- Jan Hejda Andre Benoit -- Ryan Wilson Nick Holden -- Tyson Barrie Karl Stollery
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Jean-Sebastien Giguere
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Roy and Devils goalie Martin Brodeur chatted this morning as the Avalanche's pregame skate was ending. Brodeur was watching from the New Jersey bench when Roy spotted him and came over to talk.
Roy was disappointed that Brodeur, who has broken many of his NHL records, won't start tonight.
“He said, ‘I can’t believe it. I wanted to coach against you today,’ … Brodeur said. “Pretty cool. There’s always that inner kind of competition because of where we stand and what we’ve accomplished in our careers.…
Roy and Brodeur aren't friends, but they have always had a mutual respect for each other.
"I would say it's more respect than anything else," Roy said. "I never really talked to Marty in the offseason or things like this. But I certainly could appreciate his play, especially the way he handles the game. He's been laid back after losses. On my side, I would take it deep inside and it would be hurting me for a bit. Marty probably has a better approach than I had on that part of the game."
When asked if he thinks Brodeur would be a good coach, Roy said: "I wish for him (to be a coach) because it's a great job."
But Brodeur said he isn't interested in coaching.
"Nope," he said. "I’m sure I could do it. I don’t know if I’d want to. (Roy) coached (the Quebec Remparts) in junior hockey. I don’t know if I’m ready for these long bus rides. It’s a passion being a coach; it’s not in everybody. He owned that team long before he retired so I’m sure he had a lot of things invested in it. Me, I have no association with anybody, so coaching wouldn’t be something that really attracts me.… Of their relationship, Brodeur said: "We don’t call each other or anything, but when we see each other we’ll definitely make time to say hi and talk. In different settings it’s kind of tough sometimes but today his practice was over and I was just hanging out there. It was an easy conversation to get to.…