Semyon Varlamov will make his fourth consecutive start and 11th in 13 games Tuesday when the Avalanche face Toronto at the Pepsi Center.
The
GAME NOTES.
Tyson Jost returns following an eight-game stint with the Colorado Eagles in which he had four goals and an assist. He’ll center a line with roommates
J.T. Compher and
Alexander Kerfoot.
"I guess there is a little bit of a connection there with us being roommates and whatnot," said Jost, who had six goals and nine assists in 43 games with the Avalanche when he was assigned to the AHL team on Jan. 17. "We're excited. It's going to be a big task for us, we're playing a good team in Toronto. We're excited to be back together.
"I got to play a lot of minutes and I got to touch the puck a lot," Jost said of playing with the Eagles. "I just kind of got my confidence back. I thought it was a good experience for me. Just playing hockey again and getting my confidence back.
“I was happy with it, but at the end of the day this is where I want to be, I want to be in the NHL. I want to be with the Avs, and I want to make a difference here and I'm excited to be back."
Coach
Jared Bednar is curious to see how Jost handles playing center at this level. It’s his natural position, but he’s played a lot of wing with the Avalanche.
"We moved him to center down with the Eagles, and that position forces you to play goal line to goal line,” Bednar said. “He did a nice job of it, so we're going to bring him back here and try him at center and see if that continues to help drive him and move his legs."
The Avalanche take a seven-game losing streak (0-4-3) into the game. They’re coming off a three-game road trip in which they lost all three in overtime; they’re 1-10 in overtime this season, and they lost their only shootout.
“There’s as much season left (27 games) as what’s taken us to fall from first place to fighting for just above last,” Bednar said. “If you look at it in a positive way and see we’ve got points in three straight games and we’ve been playing really good hockey, I feel we could be on the verge of continuing to get points.”
The Avalanche are four points behind Minnesota for the second wild card playoff position in the Western Conference and four ahead of last-place Anaheim.
Mark Barberio (head),
Ian Cole (upper body),
Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder) and
Colin Wilson (undisclosed) are out with injuries.
The lineup:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Alexander Kerfoot – Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto – Carl Soderberg – Matt Calvert
A.J. Greer -- Sheldon Dries -- Sven Andrighetto
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Ryan Graves -- Patrik Nemeth
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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