The Avalanche will follow along with its strategy to find secondary scoring by dividing up what is believed the NHL’s dangerous line in Saturday’s “Hockey Night in Canada” match against Vancouver in the Pepsi Center.
For forward Alex Kerfoot, being promoted to the Nathan MacKinnon-centered line is both exciting and painful. “Pleasure to perform him also a lot of responsibility,” Kerfoot said following the morning skate.
MacKinnon, the Central Division captain in a week’s weekend, may start the match with Kerfoot and Colin Wilson on his wings. The “” line that is next includes all-star wingers Gabe Landeskog along with Mikko Rantanen with center Carl Soderberg.
Avs coach Jared Bednar insists the lines could last a span or not.
“I think Mac has the ability to push his line and there’s ’s a couple men with him right now who are excited to perform with him,” Bednar said.
Bednar also wishes to reward Carl Soderberg for his career-best offensive period and also get J.T. Compher more time at the centre because the third-line center.
Kerfoot never has performed MacKinnon however they seemed to gel nicely in Saturday’s skate. Kerfoot realizes he must be prepared to pass or take quicker than he does.
“Everything is fast. He skates fast. He thinks fast. He makes plays ” Kerfoot said of MacKinnon. “And he wants the men that are currently playing to make these plays. It s a challenge for everybody is playing him. Obviously, the line has experienced a ton of success up to now this year. Regarding why we needed to split them up Plus it s kind of on the rest of the forward group. They’ve been so good and we find a reason why people have to change up things. However, it’s a good opportunity for the remainder of our group. We need to locate ways to win. ”
Jared Bednar later AM skate at Denver. Vs VAN tonight #Avs //t.co/htKkAwBPHI
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) February 2, 2019
Extended time . Due to the all-star break along with also the Avalanche’s given Saturday’s match marks Colorado’s game in 10 days. For defenseman Erik Johnson, it’ll be his first match in 14 days. Johnson suffered a head injury Jan. 19 from the Los Angeles Kings and missed the resultant two games ahead of the break.
“EJ cares for himself,” ” Bednar said. “I like the way he plays in regards off a number of his accidents. He s an experienced man. I think where he left off, he can pick it up. ”
Footnotes. Goalie Semyon Varlamov will make his start in the last eight games for the Avs. Varlamov is 2-4 in that stretch. … Second-year forward Tyson Jost and his gear remains with the Avalanche however Bednar reiterated that Jost remains property of their Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League and is currently just receiving medical care for the at-fault accident with the big club.
Avalanche lineup Vancouver (8 p.m.)
Kerfoot-MacKinnon-Wilson
Landeskog-Soderberg-Rantanen
Calvert-Compher-Nieto
Andrighetto-Dries-Bourque
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Girard-Johnson
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