I know it's at Nashville, but this is probably my last GDT of the year, so...
https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/col-vs-n ... te=previewAvs are pretty much done, but this is their game in hand on the Wylde. Lose this one and they're most definitely toast. Win it, and (to paraphrase Lloyd Christmas) there's still a chance.
BUT...this just doesn't look good. Both Duchene and MacKinnon are still out, leaving the lineup like this:
http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/Matthias-Grigorenko-Boedker
Landeskog-Soderberg-Comeau
Martinesen-Mitchell-Iginla
McLeod-Agozzino-Skille
Beauchemin-Zadorov
Bigras-Johnson
Holden-Barrie
Varlamov
Pickard
The biggest changes to note is of course the swapping of Mikko Rantanen and Andrew Agozzino, and the breaking up of the top defensive pairing for essentially the first time all season (not counting injuries of course). Roy said he wanted to pair his two rookies (Zadorov and Bigras) with veterans, meaning they get broken up while the Holden/Barrie pairing stays intact. I doubt those two will be acting as a "third" pairing, but even so, Roy sure looks like he's in "next year" mode already. Which is fine, there's no time like to present to try the kids out in bigger roles to see what they can do.
I am guessing the Avs will be making mention at their next home game of the passing of long-time WCHA referee Butch Mousseau. He died last week following a bad fall during warmups, and sadly he wasn't wearing his helmet. I didn't know Butch personally but a lot of my old friends and teammates did, and most of them are quite rattled about this. Please wear your helmets out there, folks.