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All set for Game 1 against Blues

May 17, 2021, 7:46 PM ET [6 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
As expected, forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Brandon Saad will play Monday when the No. 1 seed Avalanche open Stanley Cup First Round play against the No. 4 St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena.

Rookie Alex Newhook, who played six regular-season games after leaving Boston College to sign March 31, will play left wing on the fourth line. Forward Carl Soderberg, acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks at the NHL trade deadline, will be scratched.

Here are the GAME NOTES.

Defenseman Conor Timmins also will play; he was banged up Thursday in the regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Kings when the Avalanche clinched the Presidents’ Trophy with a 5-1 win.

MacKinnon missed four of the final five games with a lower-body injury and Saad missed the final 11 with a lower-body injury.

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The schedule:
Home games in CAPS, all times MT
Mon., ST.LOUIS, 8 p.m.
Wed., ST. LOUIS, 8:30 p.m.
Fri., at St. Louis, 7:30 p.m.
Sun., at St. Louis, TBD
*Tue., May 25, ST. LOUIS, TBD
*Thur., May 27, at St. Louis, TBD
*Sat., May 29, ST. LOUIS
*If necessary

**********


“Guys feel good, they’re excited to play,” coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s that time of year when it’s most fun to be playing hockey. They’ve put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes over the last few days, lots of meetings getting prepared and I think they’re anxious to get out and go play.”

The Avalanche expect a physical series with the Blues, especially with David Perron, their leading scorer, out due to COVID-19 protocol.

“I think you have to play physical,” Bednar said. “You got to fight for space out there, you got to earn your ice. That means not just on the forecheck and finishing checks, yes, but it means getting to the interior of the ice, which is going to be real important, and puck protection and there’s all kinds of different ways to play physical. We need to be in a pack a little bit, they like to put their numbers around the puck and get it stopped up. They’ve got a lot of big, long heavy guys in there.”

While the Avalanche will be counting on the top line of MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen to inflict some damage, they’re also relying on their depth to produce.

Saad, who twice won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks, is expected to be on the second line with Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky. He had 24 points (15 goals, nine assists) in 44 games in his first season in Colorado.

“I think it's tough to compare,” he said when I asked him if the Avalanche and those Blackhawks teams are similar. “But we have a lot of ingredients here. I think we've grown as a group. We have a lot of depth, lot of skill, lot of talent. Different age groups around the team, some veterans, some young guys coming in.

“A lot of that is some similarities, just pure raw talent on the team. It's the excitement of the team too. We're a confident group. We know what we can do. We had the same feeling when I was winning with Chicago.”

Bednar said he was concerned not too long ago that Saad might not be available for Game 1.

“I was worried about him and his timeline, if he was going to be able to get back and up to speed in time, but he’s been skating for a little bit longer than I expected, so he looks good, feels good, and he’ll be in the lineup,” Bednar said. “We need a big body guy against St. Louis especially. We need guys who go to the net hard and that’s what he does. He’s a valuable guy for us, especially with that experience.”

Here's Bednar on Newhook, who had three assists in six NHL games after getting five goals and four assists in eight games with the AHL Colorado Eagles:

“He’s competed hard for us, he’s shown flashes of his skill, an ability to make plays. He’s a hard-working guy, he’s been pretty good defensively too; I don’t see any big weaknesses there, so hoping he and continue to elevate his game and continue to get better and develop here in a short period of time, so he’s getting in tonight.”

Philipp Grubauer will start, of course, and Jonas Johansson will be the backup. Devan Dubnyk ws on the ice for the second time Monday since completing his COVID protocol after testing positive.

“I think JJ’s done a real nice job for us here in his last few starts and been able to get better and improve every game since coming to us, so he’ll back up tonight,” Bednar said. “Dubi’s going to need a little work to get back to where he needs to be.”

Valeri Nichushkin spoke with the media for the first time:

“Everyone’s waited so long for the playoff to start," he said. "We have a good team and everyone want to go far as we can. I think we’re ready and everyone’s so excited to start tonight.”

The projected lineup:

FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Brandon Saad -- Nazem Kadri -- Andre Burakovsky
Valeri Nichushkin -- Tyson Jost -- Joonas Donskoi
Alex Newhook -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- J.T. Compher

DEFENSE
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Ryan Graves -- Samuel Girard
Patrik Nemeth -- Conor Timmins

GOALIES
Philipp Grubauer
Jonas Johansson



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