Colorado's mid-six forward said he's healed up and ready for a tough battle against the team's Central Division rival.
Avalanche forward Ross Colton returned Tuesday against the New York Islanders after missing two games due to a lower-body injury. He took a shot to the leg against the Arizona Coyotes last week and said he needed rest to heal.
"Leg swelled up pretty bad, so I just couldn't really put any pressure on it for a couple days," Colton said. "Just working with the trainers — they did a good job getting me back as soon as possible, so it felt good."
The 27-year-old didn't get on the scoresheet in the 5-4 overtime win against the New York Islanders on Tuesday, but spent nearly 13 minutes on the ice and got some power play time, as well. He won four of the six faceoffs he took and had one shot on goal.
Colton said after practice Wednesday that he felt good and was ready to get at it against the Dallas Stars.
"We had a good battle with them last time we were there so for us it's just kind of getting out, playing our game in the first period, we can't fall behind," Colton said. "We've done a good job with that these last couple games just sticking to it, not changing too much and we've had success with it."
The Avalanche have won five of their last six and currently own the top spot in the Central Division with 51 points. The Stars are three points behind the Avs and last their last game at home against the Montreal Canadiens.
Georgiev starting vs Stars
Alexandar Georgiev was first off the ice for morning skate, according to Guerilla Sports reporter Jesse Montano. Head coach Jared Bednar said after Wednesday's practice that he planned on going with Georgiev in Dallas.
The Bulgarian native stopped 18 of 22 shots in the win over the Islanders but didn't have his best game.
"He's a veteran player, he's been through bad games before but he'll deal. He'll watch video and get clear on some things, if there's anything tactical he can do in his game to get better. Sometimes it's just as simple as it's an off night — he's just not making reads quick enough or what have you.
"I have no doubt he'll bounce back. It's one bad night after a bunch of good ones, so hopefully he does it tomorrow against Dallas," Bednar said.
Projected lineup
The Avs sent Ben Meyers back to the Colorado Eagles Thursday, which puts Kurtis MacDermid in against the Stars.
Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Miles Wood — Ryan Johansen — Valeri Nichushkin
Andrew Cogliano — Ross Colton — Logan O'Connor
Kurtis MacDermid — Fredrik Olofsson — Joel Kiviranta
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Bowen Byram — Josh Manson
Samuel Girard — Jack Johnson
Alexandar Georgiev
Ivan Prosvetov
This is the second of four matchups between the division rivals. The Avalanche came back from a 3-0 deficit to score six unanswered goals and beat the Stars 6-3 at American Airlines Center on Nov. 18. Puck drops at 6 p.m. MT.