Captain
Gabriel Landeskog will be in the lineup Tuesday when the Avalanche play Columbus to open a two-game road trip.
Landeskog didn’t practice Monday because of a lower-body injury, but he took part in the morning skate Tuesday and will be at his usual spot at left wing on the top line with
Nathan MacKinnon and
Mikko Rantanen.
Goalie
Philipp Grubauer will make his Avalanche debut, while forward
Matt Calvert and defenseman
Ian Cole will play against their former Blue Jackets teammates after signing with Colorado as free agents on July 1.
Coach
Jared Bednar told reporters he was leaning toward keeping
Sheldon Dries in the lineup rather than use
Vladislav Kamenev, who was recalled over the weekend from the Colorado Eagles of the AHL.
The
GAME NOTES.
"We've won two games, the lineup has been good, Dries has done a nice job in a limited amount of minutes," Bednar said. "I would like to keep it the same here and move on from there."
Defenseman
Mark Barberio will stay in the lineup.
Patrik Nemeth will miss his second game in a row, though he’s been cleared to play after sitting Saturday because of an upper-body injury. He took part in the morning skate.
Bednar said Nemeth would take part in a full practice Wednesday and be available for Thursday’s game in Buffalo if he feels ready.
Calvert, who played his eight previous NHL seasons with the Blue Jackets, had dinner with some former teammates Monday night.
“Talked about old times, new times, what they’re going through this year,” he said. “It’s a great experience and I enjoy it.”
Cole played the final 20 regular-season games with Columbus and all six playoff games after being acquired from Pittsburgh, where he twice won the Stanley Cup.
The expected lineup:
FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Alexander Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost -- Colin Wilson
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg – Gabriel Bourque
Sheldon Dries -- J.T. Compher – Matt Calvert
DEFENSE
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole – Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov – Mark Barberio
GOALIES
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov