The Avalanche will be without two key players against the Blackhawks but the team's top line is rolling off the 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.
The Avalanche will be without two key players against the Blackhawks but the team's top line is rolling off the 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.
All the focus may be on Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon right now after being named the NHL's First Star of the Week — and rightfully so — but his linemates have been outstanding along with him.
MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin combined for 24 points in the last four games. The Avs have also gotten production from other lines but the top line has been the most prevalent.
"Tonight, I think our team came out with the right intent and those guys led the way. I thought they were dominant the whole night and the scoring chances that they had produced ... was excellent," head coach Jared Bednar said about his top line after the 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. "They were checking the right way. They had a really good north attack mentality. And it just seemed like they were seeing the ice and finding open ice and getting back above pucks and checking the puck back and then going again. When our team plays like that, and when those guys play like that it gives our team a lot of confidence."
Rantanen dealt with a bit of a scoring drought to start the month but it wasn't from lack of effort — he had two of his highest shots per game during that slump. The team went 2-4-1 in games the 27-year-old forward didn't get on the scoresheet or only managed one point in the game.
"You have some tough time playing with the puck and confidence goes down little bit but maybe just takes a bounce or two and that confidence goes back," Rantanen told The Hockey News' Colleen Flynn last week. "When you go into a slump you try to look at the game and watch your stuff you do on the ice and maybe learn from — what can you do to be more effective. I was doing that and trying to prepare better."
Cale Makar did not play against the Sharks and will be out again against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. Bednar said on Sunday that he was dealing with a lingering lower-body injury that they don't want to get worse.
"We're just kind of trying to be safe with that. It's not nothing serious, but we also don't want it to become serious," Bednar said after the win over the Sharks.
Andrew Cogliano will also miss the game versus the Central Division's seventh-place team with a lower-body injury. Bednar said neither made the trip to Chicago.
Projected lineup
Valeri Nichushkin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko RantanenJonathan Drouin — Ryan Johansen — Ben Meyers
Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Logan O'Connor
Kurtis MacDermid — Fredrik Olofsson — Joel Kiviranta
Devon Toews — Josh Manson
Bowen Byram — Sam Malinksi
Caleb Jones — Jack Johnson
Alexandar Georgiev
Ivan Prosvetov
NHL.com has Johansen back on the second line but Bednar had him on the third with O'Connor and Cogliano last game. While Johansen and Cogliano contributed a goal and an assist, respectively, there's a chance he keeps the second line he had in the Sharks game: Wood — Colton — Drouin. That line produced four points and played more fluently than Johansen's line. A possible shift would be Meyers — Johansen — O'Connor on the third line.
The puck is scheduled to drop at 6:30 p.m MT at the United Center.
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