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Donskoi still isn't ready; Grubauer likely to start vs. Blues

January 17, 2020, 7:34 PM ET [2 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Avalanche had an optional practice Friday after knocking off San Jose 4-0 on Thursday, and there isn’t a whole of news to report.

Joonas Donskoi wore a non-contact jersey as he continues to go through concussion protocol and won’t play Saturday afternoon against St. Louis at the Pepsi Center.

Coach Jared Bednar said he was leaning towards starting Philipp Grubauer again, a logical choice in the wake of his 27-save shutout against the Sharks. It was his first shutout of the season and 10th of his NHL career.

My NHL.com GAME STORY

Cale Makar scored his 10th goal in his 39th game and now shares the franchise record for rookie defensemen in franchise history with John-Michael Liles, who did it in 79 games in 2003-04.

“It’s cool as an individual thing, but I’m more focused on the team,” Makar said. ”It’s not something I’m worried about as long as this team keeps up the success.”

Makar is second in the league among rookies in scoring with 34 points, one point behind Buffalo forward Victor Olofsson.

Funny, but the Avalanche now have a three-game point streak (1-0-2) after the win against the Sharks ended a four-game losing streak (or winless streak) of 0-2-2.

They’ve moved back into second place with Dallas in the Central Division, though both teams have 58 points in 47 games, The Avalanche have three more regulation wins (23-20) and one more ROW (regulation/overtime wins) than the Stars (26-25), who play at Minnesota on Saturday. Dallas won all four games between the teams, but those first two numbers take precedence in case of a tie at the end of the season.

That will be determined in the remaining 35 games, with several other teams in striking distance.

“Wins right now matter, but it’s the next half that’s going to propel us into the playoffs,” Makar said.

The Avalanche have gone 1-2-0 against the division-leading Blues, winning 7-3 at the Pepsi Center on Jan. 2.

The expected lineup:

FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Valeri Nichushkin -- Nazem Kadri – Andre Burkovsky
Matt Calvert -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto -- Tyson Jost -- Vladislav Kamenev

DEFENSE
Ryan Graves -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Ian Cole

GOALIES
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz



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