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Getting closer to full lineup

December 10, 2019, 5:22 PM ET [4 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Center Nazem Kadri and goalie Philipp Grubauer took part in a full practice Tuesday and will play Wednesday against Philadelphia at the Pepsi Center if there are no lingering after-effects.

Kadri, who missed the past three games with a lower-body injury, practiced with a regular contact jersey, centering the second line with Andre Burakovsky and Joonas Donskoi.

“It’s exciting for sure,” said Kadri, who didn’t feel right last Thursday after playing in Toronto the night before. “It seems like for the whole first part of the season it’s kind of like one guy in, one guy out or one guy in, two guys out. It’s a little bit frustrating to play like that, but we’ve been doing well and now we get a little taste of our full lineup.”

The Avalanche are second in the Central Division with a 19-8-3 record and 41 points, one point behind St. Louis, the defending Stanley Cup champions. A 5-4 overtime loss to Calgary on Monday ended their winning streak at six games; they’ve gone 11-3-1 in the past 15 games despite missing several top players.

“That’s the encouraging part for sure,” said Kadri, who has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in 27 games. “Shout out to those guys who came up (from the Colorado Eagles) and stepped up and played big minutes, had some opportunity and made good with it.

“It just speaks volumes of the depth we have on this team. It seems like that’s all we’ve been talking about since the start of the year, and it’s been nice to showcase that a little bit.”

Grubauer left Saturday’s game in Boston with a lower-body injury late in the first period and he didn’t dress Monday. Adam Werner, who was recalled to suit up as Pavel Francouz’s backup against Calgary, has been reassigned to the Eagles.

Coach Jared Bednar said he’d see how Grubauer is feeling Wednesday morning before making a decision on who starts against the Flyers.

“Over the last couple of weeks it’s been really interesting to see how many guys went down,” Grubauer said. “I don’t think that happens too many times, but I’d rather get it now than in the playoffs. Now the guys are starting to come back. I think we’re a really good team once everybody is healthy. We haven’t played with a full lineup since the start of the season.”

Rookie defenseman Cale Makar, who sustained an upper-body injury in the third period in Boston, skated while wearing a no-contact jersey before practice.

“He’s been feeling better the last couple days and he’ll just get re-evaluated every 24 hours and then we’ll make a decision when he’ll get back in the lineup,” Bednar said. “He’s doubtful for (Wednesday).”

Defenseman Erik Johnson has missed seven games with a lower-body injury and forward Colin Wilson has a lower-body injury and is scheduled for surgery.

“I feel like we’re getting closer (to a full lineup), knock on wood, that we don’t lose someone again tomorrow,” Bednar said while rapping on his podium. “The guys have been doing a nice job, we’ve been carving out wins, but it would be nice to get everyone back together and let us start growing as a group again.”



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