Philipp Grubauer To Start Versus Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C.--Philipp Grubauer will once again be in the Colorado Avalanche net on Saturday when the Avs take on the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.
He earned his first win of the season on Thursday in his second appearance, making 27 saves in a 5-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
"We like what Grubi did, I also want to give him a chance to build off that game," Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said after Friday's practice at the Hurricanes' home arena. "We were pretty good defensively, he was good and I want to see if he can bounce back and equal that performance, or even better that performance that he had the other night. We are going to give him another crack here."

Grubauer was acquired by the Avalanche in the offseason from the Washington Capitals. Since he arrived in Colorado, he has been fine-tuning his game and working closing with goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila.
"I think there is an adjustment period [for Grubauer] for sure. You come from a team like the Capitals that are a real experienced team, they have been together for a long time--and he's been part of that," Bednar said. "I think that we have a little bit of a different makeup, so obviously things are different. You have a different coaching staff, a different goalie coach, so there is a lot of adjustments that I am sure he is going through.
"I love his attitude, he has been very positive and he is doing some good work here in practice. Him and Jussi, they are getting sort of the same language now, and I think that that will help as time goes on. I really like what is going on here… I hope he can have another night here against Carolina the way he was in Jersey."
The German netminder has played in eight career games against the Hurricanes and owns a 4-2-1 record, 2.70 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.

QUICK PRACTICE BEFORE AN AFTERNOON AFFAIR

The Avs were on the ice for a quick, 30-minute session on Friday, the last time they will skate before facing the Hurricanes at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.
"It's an early game tomorrow, we need to kind of get our legs going for today," Nikita Zadorov said. "It was a quick practice, a couple drills. Got good energy today, and hopefully it translates to tomorrow."
It will be the first of 13 afternoon games for Colorado and the first of seven that will be played away from the Mile High City.
"It's different, you eat breakfast only before the game, but I like 1 o'clock games," said Zadorov. "I think you get enough time to wake up, and it's nice to get it done early. You have the whole afternoon to recover for the next game and you don't have to fly late as well, so it's fun to play those games."

AFTER PRACTICE TRANSACTION

After practice, the Avalanche announced that rookie forward Sheldon Dries has been reassigned to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League.
The Macomb Township, Wisconsin, native has played in four games with the Avs this campaign, averaging 6:54 of ice time. Dries has also skated in two games with the Eagles.

Practice Combinations

Gabriel Landkesog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Alexander Kerfoot - Tyson Jost - Colin Wilson
Matt Nieto - Carl Soderberg - Matt Calvert
Sven Andrighetto - Vladislav Kamenev - Gabriel Bourque
Sheldon Dries
Samuel Girard - Erik Johnson
Ian Cole - Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov - Patrik Nemeth
Mark Barberio
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov