Colorado embarks on unusual four-game stretch against Wild
Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson and backup goalie Hunter Miska both grew up in Minnesota. Johnson, from Bloomington, Minn., played one season at the University of Minnesota, and Miska, from North Branch, played one year at Minnesota-Duluth.
Suffice to say, they are looking forward to a four-game stretch against the Minnesota Wild, including a back-to-back set at St. Paul on Saturday and Sunday. The rivals also play Tuesday and Thursday at Ball Arena in Denver.
“It’s going to be different. In a normal season, you just typically have the home-and-homes on the back-to-back sometimes. So,
yeah, this will be different,” Johnson said Friday after an optional practice. “Two there, on the back-to-back, and two here. So it will be different. But we’re familiar with that team and they’re pretty familiar with us. Nothing too Earth-shattering as far as knowing what they’re going to do. It will be a fun segment of games.”
Miska, who has stepped in for the injured Pavel Francouz, will probably start one of the games in St. Paul to give Philipp Grubauer a break. Grubauer, who produced his second shutout of the season Thursday in a 3-0 win over visiting San Jose, is tied with an NHL-most five wins and is second with a 1.86 goalsagainst average.
Miska is 0-1 with a 3.10 GAA but Grubauer can’t play every game — especially on a consecutive-night stretch in a condensed schedule.
“It’s a pretty cool opportunity for me to go back home and hopefully play in front of my hometown,” Miska said Friday. “I expect to play one of the games but I’m not sure which one.”
The Avalanche recalled forwards Logan O’Connor, Shane Bowers, Sheldon Dries and defenseman Jacob McDonald from the Colorado Eagles to its taxi squad Friday before departing for Minneapolis. The Avs lost center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to a leg injury early in Thursday’s game and defenseman Devon Toews missed some time after blocking a shot with his leg or foot.
Bellemare was not expected to travel with the Avs, along with Francouz (lower-body) and forward Matt Calvert (illness).
“Whenever we go on the road we load up on that taxi squad,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said Friday. “(Bellemare’s) going to miss some time. We’ll see how he progresses and what he’s able to do off the ice. Along with Calvert and Frankie. I don’t really have a time frame on those guys.”
Footnote. Rookie defenseman Bo Byram, 19, is expected to play in his sixth NHL game Saturday in St. Paul. If he also plays Sunday, the first year of his entrylevel contract kicks in and he will remain with the Avs the rest of the season and will not be eligible for his junior team in Vancouver or the minor leagues. “If it was me, I don’t see how you can send him back to junior,” Johnson, 32, said of the first defenseman selected in the 2019 draft (fourth overall). “He’s been outstanding.”