Following two frustrating losses on home ice that saw the Colorado Avalanche play well, but not well enough, the Avs are back on the road this evening as they prepare for a primetime matchup with the young and lowly Chicago Blackhawks. The Avs weren’t necessarily bad in either of the losses to the St. Louis Blues and the Calgary Flames, but a couple of lapses were all it took for the Avs to see three valuable points slip to the wayside.
The quest to catch the Dallas Stars has become practically impossible, and the heat of the pack is catching up to the Avs just a little. Chicago will be as young and inexperienced as ever, as they welcome in a couple of NCAA prospects into the fold to finish off the season. Games like these are the ones the Avs need to come out of with two points.
Colorado Avalanche:
As previously mentioned, the Avs didn’t come out of their recent homestand with the results they hoped for. Missing out on three of four points was not ideal for their chase for home ice in round one, as the gap between them and the Dallas Stars has ballooned to eight points. Dallas even finds themselves closer to catching the Winnipeg Jets as it stands, so now the focus for Colorado shifts towards maintaining the #3 seed in the Central Division.
“Some good stuff, some bad stuff,” said Avs forward Ross Colton following Monday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Calgary.
“For the most part we’ve been playing well, but then kind of have some lapses where we’re letting teams back into it. There’s some stuff we can build on, some stuff we can pull that’s good, but we need to focus on hitting our stride come these two weeks.”
The top forward lines need to find their stride, as recently even strength scoring has become a premium. Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar has done some shuffling to try and produce some sparks, specifically for Artturi Lehkonen, who has gone without a goal in ten consecutive games, with the last meeting with the Hawks being the last time Lehkonen found the twine. Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin haven’t struggled to the same tune, but have definitely been underwhelming in this recent stretch. Bednar will have the trio together on the top line tonight to see if they can all get each other going.
Samuel Girard (undisclosed) will not dress tonight. Keaton Middleton will play in his place. Girard had been out for a handful of games in March due to a minor injury, but it is unknown if tonight’s absence is related to that. Additionally, Joel Kiviranta will make his return to the lineup tonight alongside Charlie Coyle and Ross Colton.
This morning, the Avalanche recalled goaltender Kevin Mandolese from the Colorado Eagles. Earlier this week, it was reported that Scott Wedgewood was having his mask checked out after taking a shot in practice yesterday.
With that being said, Wedgewood was on the ice this morning for the AM skate, and is set to go between the pipes tonight. In 15 starts for the Avs this season Wedgewood has been stellar, going 10-4-1 and posting a 2.01 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. He’ll pick up consecutive starts, likely leaving tomorrow’s matchup with Columbus to Mackenzie Blackwood.
Projected Lineup:
Artturi Lehkonen (62) — Nathan MacKinnon (29) — Jonathan Drouin (27)Valeri Nichushkin (13) — Brock Nelson (11) — Martin Necas (88)Joel Kiviranta (94) — Charlie Coyle (10) — Ross Colton (20)
Parker Kelly (17) — Jack Drury (18) — Logan O’Connor (25)
Devon Toews (7) — Cale Makar (8)Ryan Lindgren (55) — Sam Malinski (70)
Keaton Middleton (67) — Erik Johnson (6)
Scott Wedgewood (41)
Mackenzie Blackwood (39)
Chicago Blackhawks:
As about everyone in the hockey world expected, the Blackhawks have been one of the worst teams in the NHL this season, and the prospect revolution has taken full force behind Connor Bedard to close out this season. With only one win in their previous ten games, this final month of the season has been nothing more than experience building for the Blackhawks.
The last time the Avs faced the Blackhawks just under one month ago, Chicago was welcoming in top defense prospect Artyom Levshunov to the NHL. On Sunday night they welcomed two more top prospects from the NCAA, as forward Oliver Moore and defenseman Sam Rinzel made their NHL debuts in a 5-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
Spencer Knight is set to start between the pipes for Chicago, acquired from the Florida Panthers in the blockbuster Seth Jones trade, Knight and Arvid Soderblom have formed a formidable young tandem for the Blackhawks to progress forward through the rebuild with. In his nine starts for the Blackhawks, Knight has gone 3-6-0 with a 3.26 goals against average and a .887 save percentage. These are vast drop offs from his season numbers with the Panthers, but no one said it was going to be easier to backstop a rebuilder.
Projected Lineup:
Ryan Donato (8) — Connor Bedard (98) — Ilya Mikheyev (65)Tuevo Teravainen (86) — Frank Nazar (91) — Tyler Bertuzzi (59)Landon Slaggert (84) — Oliver Moore (11) — Lukas Reichel (73)
Nick Foligno (17) — Joe Veleno (90) — Pat Maroon (77)
Alex Vlasic (72) — Sam Rinzel (6)Wyatt Kaiser (44) — Ayrtom Levshunov (55)
Ethan Del Mastro (38) — Connor Murphy (5)
Spencer Knight (30)
Arvid Soderblom (40)
