Avs Prepare For Eastern Road Swing

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--After playing at home for one outing, the Colorado Avalanche now heads back at out onto the road.
The team's four-game trip begins with a Tuesday contest versus the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Avs will also play at the New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers during the eight days they are on the road.
"Four games, good teams. Some of those teams are playing real good right now. It will be a good challenge for us," said Colorado head coach Jared Bednar after Sunday's practice at Family Sports Center. "I'm excited to get back on the road actually and see what our team's got. Just came off of a short road trip, played really well in one game, so hopefully we can repeat that performance here on the road for these four."

Sunday was Colorado's only practice before the contest against the Rangers. The team won't hold an on-ice session on Monday and will instead just reconvene at the airport for its flight to the east coast.
Bednar is expecting a bounce-back effort from his squad after it lost 3-2 in overtime to the Calgary Flames on Saturday. The Avalanche scored two goals in the first three minutes, but the Flames battled back to tie the outing in the final minutes of third period before winning early in OT.
"We went out and worked on some D-zone coverage today and getting quick to contact. Make sure we have support around the puck," Bednar said of the day's session. "I thought our guys' intensity level at practice was really good. I think we're all aware, coaches and players, that wasn't our best game. When teams push, we have to push back. Everybody seems to be aware of it."

Goaltender Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 38 saves versus the Flames and will start at the Rangers. He stopped 37 shots in New York last season in the season opener when the club defeated the Rangers 4-2 on Oct. 5, 2017.
Varlamov's history in New York and the amount of rest he'll get between games was the determining factor in Bednar going back with the goalkeeper.
"He gets a day of practice today. He gets a day of rest tomorrow, the rest of today and tomorrow," Bednar said of Varlamov. "He's played really well. Last year at least he played real well at MSG. I think it is a good spot for him to go and then we'll go back to [Philipp] Grubauer."
Forward Sven Andrighetto took part in his second team practice in a red, non-contact jersey after participating in Saturday's morning skate. He continues to make progress in his recovery from a leg injury and could join the team sometime during the road trip.
Andrighetto has been out since getting hurt in a preseason game on Sept. 26 against the Dallas Stars.
Bednar said the Avalanche will recall a player from the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League to participate in the road trip. The team later announced that it had called up forward Sheldon Dries.

TIMMINS UPDATE

Defenseman Conor Timmins returned to his hometown in Ontario, Canada, to continue his rehab from a concussion, Bednar revealed Sunday.
"He's not progressing as much as we would like, so we let him go home for a little while here. Spend some time, continue to rehab and then we'll bring him back here," Bednar said. "Setback? I don't know, but we want to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to help him get better. He's been here for a long time. He's not skating with the team every day. I think getting home and seeing his family, sort of get rejuvenated. Then we'll bring him back, and we'll see if that can help him a little bit."
Timmins hasn't played a game since the Ontario Hockey League Playoffs with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds last spring. He missed the Avalanche's development camp and training camp with the head injury.
Bednar said himself, the athletic trainers and general manager Joe Sakic have been in close contact with Timmins as he battles back from the unpredictable injury.
"You want to get better, but you don't know when it's going to come," Bednar said. "That's the thing with concussions. It's not like any other injury where you can kind of set a timetable on it. That's the frustrating thing about it."

PRACTICE COMBINATIONS

The Avalanche made its first line adjustment of the season at Sunday's practice, maneuvering a few players around on the bottom three forward combinations.
Colorado's top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen remained the same.
Gabriel Landeksog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
J.T. Compher - Alex Kerfoot - Colin Wilson
Tyson Jost - Carl Soderberg - Matt Calvert
Gabriel Bourque - Vladislav Kamenev - Matt Nieto
Samuel Girard - Erik Johnson
Ian Cole - Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov - Patrik Nemeth / Mark Barberio
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer