There seems to be some hope being built between the Avalanche and goalie Philipp Grubauer.
For the first since Jan. 4, Grubauer will make his second consecutive start Monday night when the Avs host the Carolina Hurricanes. He helped Colorado, holding loosely to playoff hopes, to an 18-save shutout of Buffalo on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s been some time,” Gruabauer said after the morning skate at the Pepsi Center. “Varly (Semyon Varlamov) has been playing incredible. Therefore it’s hard to get the net. But we need to perform, both of us, so for us to win games and make the playoffs here. Every game is vital. ”
Said coach Jared Bednar: “(Grubauer) was great the other night. Key saves early in the match, particularly on the breakaway when they came out of the box. He made all the saves he had to make so we’re planning to go back to him and provide Varly a little bit of a mental break and see if we could ride a hot goalie again. ”
Grubauer has attracted his save percentage up to .900 and reduced his goals-against average to 3.06. Varlamov is at .910 and 2.84. Neither goalie ranks among the top-25 in both categories.
The Avs enter Monday’s games two points from a Western Conference wild-card playoff place — two points behind Minnesota and one in rear of Arizona. The Wild hosts the San Jose Sharks on Monday that the Coyotes play at the Chicago Blackhawks.
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Footnotes. Avalanche center Carl Soderberg declined to comment about the two-game suspension issued to Buffalo center Jack Eichel on Sunday. Eichel has been given a minor penalty for his illegal check to Soderberg’s head in Saturday’s match. … Colorado will play its next game without left wing and team captain Gabe Landeskog, who’s projected to miss 4-to-6 weeks with an upper-body injury. But Landeskog donned his gear before Monday’s morning skate to be contained in picture day.
#Avs vs #Canes tonight in Denver. Here’s Coach Bednar after AM skate //t.co/NkzFVdYorM
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) March 11, 2019
Avalanche lineup:
Brassard-MacKinnon-Compher
Wilson-Soderberg-Rantanen
Kerfoot-Jost-Calvert
Bourque-Agozzino-Andrighetto
Girard-Johnson
Cole-Barrie
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Zadorov-Nemeth
Grubauer, Varlamov
Scratched: D Graves
Injured: F Landeskog (upper-body), F Nieto (leg), D Barberio (leg)
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