Avalanche vs. Islanders, Game 30: Lines and Notes; MacDermid Back

The New York Islanders are the opponent tonight for your Colorado Avalanche, who just finished up their morning skate here at Ball Arena. By now, you’ve probably heard of Avalanche’s trade this morning.

Here’s what coach Jared Bednar had to say of the deal, which brought depth forward Denis Malgin from the Toronto Maple Leafs:

“I don’t know a lot about him. I know he’s a smaller, speedy guy with skill, can skate,” Bednar said. “Hopefully, he’s a guy who can potentially fit into our system. He’s a veteran guy who can play center and wing, has good skill, has good pace to his game. He has probably more opportunity here than he did in Toronto. They’re pretty beat up, but it’s on the back end. Their forwards are pretty healthy. And IU think Huntsy gives Toronto a little more of something they’re looking for. He’s a physical guy, doesn’t get cheated on the work ethic. There’s a heaviness to Huntsie’s game that makes it more attractive.”

Despite some tough times of late, the Avalanche are one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup at Betway. In previous seasons, strong teams have had their seasons derailed by injuries. In fact, just last season, the Las Vegas Golden Knights were one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Yet serious injuries caused them to miss out on the playoffs for the first time in their history. Although there’s still a lot of the season left to play, it’s clear that these injury issues could cause a serious problem.

Nathan MacKinnon was slated to miss next few weeks recovering from an upper-body injury.

Bednar seemed to have good praise there for Hunt, but he’s out of here. It sounds like the Avalanche made this move to get a little more offense, hopefully. But Malgin’s scoring numbers weren’t good in Toronto.

Anyway, the Avalanche will start Alexandar Georgiev in goal tonight, and welcome Kurtis MacDermid back to the lineup. Bednar said the Avalanche missed MacDermid’s “presence.”

Martin Kaut also is expected to be in the lineup, as he was recalled this morning from the Eagles. Round and around it goes.

AVALANCHE PROJECTED LINES vs. ISLANDERS

Lehkonen-Compher-Rantanen

Newhook-Rodrigues-Nichushkin

Cogliano-Meyers-O’Connor

MacDermid-Kaut-MacDonald

D

Toews-Makar

Girard-Johnson

Englund-Hunt

Georgiev

NOTEBOOK: Semyon Varlamov is day-to-day with an injury, so he won’t start tonight. …Avalanche are -150 favorites to win, at SuperBook Colorado.