New broken by NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman show multiple line up changes for the Colorado Avalanche ahead of Monday night’s game against the Dallas Stars. According to the tweet Colorado head coach Jared Bednar says that defenceman Erik Johnson and starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer will both be out “indefinitely”. Meanwhile forward Matt Calvert will not dress and Kevin Connauton will be inserted into the lineup as a defenceman.
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1297952290725298178
Matt Calvert, Others Out for Colorado
In nine games Johnson has played in during the playoffs so far he has two-points and 16 blocked shots. He has averaged 18:20 of ice time throughout, including playing limitedly in game one against Dallas due to what is believed to be a knee injury.
Philipp Grubauer had left game one with what appeared to be a lower-body injury during the second period. In seven games Grubauer has a 5-1 record with one shutout and a .922 Save Percentage. He will be replaced by Pavel Francouz who has appeared in three games for Colorado during the playoffs. In two starts Francouz has a 1-1 record with a .958 Save Percentage. The win being a shutout against the Dallas Stars in the Round Robin.
Calvert missed game one and is listed as “day-to-day” currently. He has played in eight games since play has resumed. He has one-goal and three-points while averaging just under 14 minutes of ice time per game for the Avalanche.
What it Means for the Future
Kevin Connauton gets the call to step in on defence. He had only played in four games during the regular season and has not played in a game since the restart of the season. His last playoff experience was back in 2014 when he was a member of the Dallas Stars.
Dallas has a solid chance to take a 2-0 series lead if they can take advantage of the injury issues.
