The Avalanche are starting to get healthy.
Matt Calvert will play Wednesday in Toronto and coach
Jared Bednar told reporters after the morning skate there is a good chance
Gabriel Landeskog and
Andre Burakovsky will be in the lineup Thursday in Montreal.
And, yes,
Mikko Rantanen will play against the Maple Leafs after sitting out the third period last Saturday. He didn’t practice Monday and the Avalanche traveled Tuesday.
But
Vladislav Kamenev is ill and won’t play.
Philipp Grubauer will start in goal.
GAME NOTES
This will be
Nazem Kadri’s second game against the Leafs and his first in Toronto since the Avalanche acquired him July 1 with
Calle Rosen and a third-round pick in the 2020 NHL draft for
Tyson Barrie, Alexander Kerfoot and a sixth-round pick in 2020.
"It's a little different even walking out to the ice from the visiting side," Kadri told reporters. "I got a little lost, almost needed a map or something. I'm trying not to think too much about it. Part of me wants it over and done with and part of me wants to just enjoy the moment because I've worked hard for it.”
Kadri had two assists in the Avalanche’s 5-3 loss to the Leafs on Nov. 23 at the Pepsi Center. Rosen was playing for the Colorado Eagles at the time. Barrie had a goal and an assist, and Kerfoot was given a minor boarding penalty for his hit against
Erik Johnson, who hasn’t played since because of a lower-body injury. Kerfoot received a two-game suspension two days later from the NHL Safety Department, which he has since served.
Calvert missed six games with a concussion he sustained Nov. 16 against Vancouver after getting hit on the head with a puck shot by
Elias Pettersson. He needed six stitches to close a gash behind his right ear.
Landeskog will miss his 16th game with a lower-body injury, Burakovsky his third with an upper-body injury.
Projected lineup:
FORWARDS
Joonas Donskoi -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Nazem Kadri -- J.T. Compher
Valeri Nichushkin -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Logan O'Connor
Matt Calvert -- Tyson Jost -- T.J. Tynan
DEFENSE
Ryan Graves -- Cale Makar
Nikita Zadorov -- Samuel Girard
Calle Rosen -- Ian Cole
GOALIES
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz