The Avalanche could be without
Nathan MacKinnon and
Patrik Nemeth on Saturday when they close out a two-game set with the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.
MacKinnon didn’t play in the Avalanche’s 3-2 win Friday because of a lower-body injury and Nemeth sustained an upper-body injury in the second period when he fell head-first into the boards after getting tangled up with the Kings’
Jaret Anderson-Dolan.
Here are the
GAME NOTES.
Coach
Jared Bednar said after the game that MacKinnon “is banged up a little bit. It’s nothing serious at this point. He was getting some work done (Friday) morning trying to get ready to play, but he’s just hurting a little bit.”
Bednar said Nemeth didn’t have a concussion.
Neither team had a morning skate Saturday.
Here’s the
NHL.com RECAP of Friday’s game.
Bednar said Friday morning it was important to try and finish first in the West Division and to earn home-ice advantage in the playoffs, but that the No. 1 priority was to be healthy and rested for the postseason.
The Avalanche trail first-place Vegas by four points with one game in hand and four games remaining, including a road game against the Golden Knights on Monday.
They have a one-point lead over Minnesota, also with one game in hand. St. Louis clinched the fourth and final playoff berth in the West on Friday; the Blues are locked into fourth place.
Jonas Johansson might start after
Philipp Grubauer played Friday but only faced 17 shots. Johansson has gone 3-1-1 since his March 20 acquisition from Buffalo with a 2.27 goals-against average and .910 save percentage. He hasn’t played since a 4-1 loss in St. Louis on April 26.
The Avalanche have gone 5-0-3 in the second game of back-to-back sets this season.
Here's the likely lineup if MacKinnon and Nemeth are scratched:
FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Tyson Jost -- Mikko Rantanen
Valeri Nichushkin -- Nazem Kadri -- Joonas Donskoi
Andre Burakovsky -- Alex Newhook -- J.T. Compher
Carl Soderberg -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Kiefer Sherwood
DEFENSE
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Ryan Graves -- Conor Timmins
Dan Renouf -- Jacob MacDonald
GOALIES
Jonas Johansson
Philipp Grubauer