Avalanche Practice Ahead of Road Game

DENVER, Colo. -- The Colorado Avalanche practiced at Ball Arena Thursday afternoon following its 5-4 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
Forward Mikko Rantanen hit the ice ahead of the team to practice with skills coach Shawn Allard. He stayed on the ice to run drills in a blue full-contact jersey.
Andre Burakovsky was back with the squad after being out on Wednesday night with an upper-body injury.
Devon Toews remains as an option for Saturday and continued to practice with the boys as he has been approved for controlled contact.

Bednar on Injury Update: "Mikko, Burky, Towes all got through practice okay as of now. If they are good in the morning, they should be playing for us in Columbus…..I think it just gets our D where we want them to be you know Bo has been great. You know Cale out especially now to be able to add Toews in and hopefully, Cale will be back in the lineup here soon. It kinda slots those top four guys in where they can be."

Kadri on O'Connor's goal: "Well, I mean OC is just a guy that's always gonna work and I think it's finally nice to see him get rewarded for the work that he's doing. He's a guy that we can count on to be one of the most hardest working guys on the ice. You know for him to get that opportunity and not only cash in on it I think that goes a long way for his confidence and he can continue to stay aggressive because I think he can pitch in offensively."

O'Connor on skating with Naz and Burky: "It's been nice, I feel as though I just have to continue to play to my strengths which is you know getting hard on the forecheck. Getting the pucks to those players and being hard to play against, I think that's a big reason why I am where I am in the lineup right now and just continue to do that going forward with Naz and Burky if we play together in the next game."
Colorado has another chance to take on Columbus on the road on Saturday.
INJURY REPORT
Cale Makar did not participate in practice due to an upper body injury. Martin Kaut did not attend practice after not finishing the game on Wednesday night. He will remain out on a week-to-week basis with an upper body injury. Valeri Nichushkin remained off the ice and continues to rehab his upper body injury. Stefan Matteau will be out for weeks with a lower-body injury he suffered on Oct. 16th. Pavel Francouz is still out on a week-to-week basis.
LINEUP
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky - 25 Logan O'Connor
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 44 Kiefer Sherwood
75 Sampo Ranta - 43 Darren Helm - 12 Jayson Megna
Defensemen
4 Bowen Bryam - 49 Samuel Girard
3 Jack Johnson - 6 Erik Johnson
56 Kurtis MacDermid - 26 Jacob MacDonald
7 Devon Toews - 28 Ryan Murray
Goaltenders
35 Darcy Kuemper
31 Jonas Johansson