Vladislav Kamenev will make his season debut, and
Semyon Varlamov and
Patrik Nemeth return to the lineup Thursday night when the Avalanche play in Buffalo to conclude their two-game road trip.
The
GAME NOTES.
Kamenev replaces
Sheldon Dries on the fourth line and Nemeth draws in for
Mark Barberio.
The Avalanche (2-1-0) are coming off a 5-2 loss to Columbus on Tuesday when they played poorly in the first and third periods. They were especially weak in front of goalie
Philipp Grubauer, who stopped 30 of 34 shots before the Blue Jackets scored an empty-net goal.
“We didn't have a great outing, and (Kamenev) is a guy that we want to take a look at," coach
Jared Bednar told reporters. "After a good outing and winning hockey games, you want to try and keep the lineup the same, see if you can continue on. In this case, we weren't as good as we wanted to be."
Varlamov (2-0-0) has a 6-2-1 career record against Buffalo with one shutout, a 2.46 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.
Carter Hutton will start for the Sabres (2-1-0). He has a 5-1-0 record against the Avalanche with a 2.24 average and .925 save percentage; those games came when he played for Nashville and St. Louis. He signed a three-year contract with Buffalo as a free agent July 1.
The lineup:
FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Alexander Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost -- Colin Wilson
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg – Gabriel Bourque
Vladislav Kamenev -- J.T. Compher – Matt Calvert
DEFENSE
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole – Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov – Patrik Nemeth
GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
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