Colorado will play its next six games on the road — starting with a back-to-back in the northeast.
The Avalanche have had a tough time on the road this season (12-9-3), putting them at a slight disadvantage for the next six games. The team begins its longest road trip of the season — facing off against the New York Rangers on Monday night.
Colorado's newest forward, Zach Parise, will debut in burgundy and blue on a line with Ryan Johansen and Artturi Lehkonen, head coach Jared Bednar said on Sunday. The 39-year-old veteran will also be part of the penalty kill unit right off the bat.
"We're going to throw him right into the fire as usual. He's been skating for a long time, he's in phenomenal condition. We talked about that before — the guy that kind of just keeps himself ready to go a little bit like say (Andrew) Cogliano, veteran guy that's been around a long time," Bednar said after an early morning practice before flying out to New York. "Good practice — I thought our guys all came to work, especially for an 8 o'clocker. Some of those guys didn't skate for a couple of days. So we got right into some contact drills to try and get him as ready as we possibly can for what's going to come our way tomorrow."
After an eight-day hiatus for the All-Star Break, the Avalanche jump right back in on a back-to-back, facing the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night. Bednar said his team was fatigued from the last long road trip just before the break, but he's glad Parise was added for depth.
"We've got a nice deep lineup now," Bednar said. "We're going to travel with 22, 23 guys, so we've got some options there."
This is the first matchup between the teams with both contests having gone to shootouts last season. The Avalanche took the win at Madison Square Garden and the Rangers earned two points at Ball Arena.
The Avalanche sit atop of the Central Division with 67 points while the Rangers are No. 1 in the Metropolitan Division with 63 points.
Projected lineup
Ivan Prosvetov was put on waivers over the weekend and cleared them. He joined the Colorado Eagles and Justus Annunen was called up to back up Alexandar Georgiev.
Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Zach Parise — Ryan Johansen — Artturi Lehkonen
Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Logan O'Connor
Andrew Cogliano — Fredrik Olofsson — Joel Kiviranta
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Bowen Byram — Jack Johnson
Alexandar Georgiev
Justus Annunen
Puck drops at 5 p.m. MT.
Related Avalanche links
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Why Nathan MacKinnon is the obvious choice for the Hart, other NHL trophies