Colorado's head coach mixed up lines the last few games and one particular was successful in the 5-0 shutout win against the Chicago Blackhawks. Jared Bednar shifted lines over the last few games and one particular move was successful against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night. Colorado's head coach put Ross Colton at center with Jonathan Drouin on the left and Zach Parise on the right. Both wingers notched goals with one assist from their quarterback. "Yeah, I mean, more good than bad from those guys in that line. I thought when we put them together with (Ryan) Johansen, they were a really good line for a handful of games. Maybe not so much in Nashville, as the game went on, but early in Nashville, they were fine," Bednar said after the Blackhawks win. "With the line shuffle, just trying to mix and match different combinations. Tonight, I thought that that line was a good line though and Colton helped them too." Colton had been playing with Miles Wood and Logan O'Connor but were not working well together as of late. Colton said he plays wherever coach puts him and it was easy to slide in between Drouin and Parise. "I just kind of play with whoever. You know, it's for the most part, it's been me, OC (O'Connor) and Woody (Wood) — we were struggling a little bit last couple games which is gonna happen. There's ups and downs in the season but so he just talked to us and said he wanted to break us up for a little bit," Colton said after practice on Tuesday. "Just kind of you know, not think too much about it and playing with those two guys (Drouin and Parise), they made it pretty easy. And I thought we played pretty well last night which was good." It was Drouin's first goal since Jan. 13 which he earned off a shovel pass from Colton. Although chemistry does not usually happen immediately, the 27-year-old forward said he was more comfortable with his line. "He's an easy player to play with (Parise). Obviously he's been in the league for a long time so he knows where to be kind of is always in the right spot. He works hard very hard on forecheck so been fun to play with. "That's a lot of speed. Obviously Ross (Colton) brings a lot of speed, tenacity and I thought you know we had some good moments or some moments like every line has it wasn't that great, but in general, I thought we had a good game. "It's weird you can have one good game right away and you kind of pick that chemistry up and you feel like you've been playing for a long time with that player. But yeah, I thought for first game as a line, I thought we were pretty good. There's some spots where I think I make that play through my legs in the first where Ross is there but I missed a play. It's just a little communication where we'll start figuring out where we are on the ice more naturally than thinking about it," Drouin said. Bednar said he's been changing up lines to get an idea of who plays well with who as the lineup expands with players returning and possible moves before the trade deadline. "I was unhappy with the Colton line for the last handful of games. So we had a discussion. And I told him I was changing lines and that was pretty much it," Bednar said after Tuesday's practice. "It just depends. Sometimes I move a guy around to help somebody else. Sometimes I'm moving them because they're struggling or their line's struggling sometimes — like in this case, I think they need a break from one another and go do their own thing for a little bit and then we'll probably put them back together at some point." With the imminent return of Valeri Nichushkin, there will certainly be another shake up in the lines. What those moves will be is yet to be determined. Bednar said Nichushkin still needs to be cleared by the league in order to get back in the lineup. RECENT COLORADO AVALANCHE ARTICLES Avalanche vs Blackhawks: Jones vs Jones showdown [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/game-day/avalanche-vs-blackhawks-will-it-be-a-jones-vs-jones-showdown] 'We win and lose as a team': Bowen Byram defends teammate after loss [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/players/we-win-and-lose-as-a-team-bowen-byram-defends-teammate-after-loss] 'We're really happy that he's on our side': Mikko Rantanen works his way out of 'rut' [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/players/mikko-rantanen-works-his-way-out-of-rut]
