ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche made their first significant lineup shuffle of the postseason for Game 4 of their second-round NHL playoff series on Monday, giving goalie Mackenzie Blackwood his first start in nearly a month after he relieved Scott Wedgewood during the 5-1 loss in Game 3 to the Minnesota Wild.
The Avalanche had several changes with their skaters, too, highlighted by defenseman Josh Manson playing for the first time in the series after he suffered an upper-body injury in Game 3 of their first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Kings.
Advertisement
Manson and rookie Jack Ahcan drew in on the blue line for Nick Blankenburg and Sam Malinski, who was scratched for the first time this postseason because of an upper-body injury. Manson, a 12th-year veteran, posted a career-best plus-42 rating during the regular season.
First line left wing Artturi Lehkonen also had his first absence due to an upper-body injury, so captain Gabriel Landeskog moved up to skate with star center Nathan MacKinnon.
Valeri Nichushkin moved down to the third line centered by Nazem Kadri, with Logan O’Connor moving up to take the other wing. Ross Colton and Nicolas Roy moved up to the second line to flank center Brock Nelson. Joel Kiviranta returned from a five-game injury absence to take O’Connor’s previous place on the fourth line centered by Jack Drury.
Wedgewood and Blackwood split the net during the regular season and shared the William M. Jennings Trophy as the Avalanche had the NHL’s best goals against average. Wedgewood, a career backup who had a breakout season, went 6-0 in the playoffs before giving up three goals in Game 3 and being pulled early in the second period. Blackwood played the entire first-round series last year against the Dallas Stars.
___
AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Read the full article here
