Avs Add Reinforcements on Better Day of Practice

It wasn't for a lack of effort, but head coach Jared Bednar didn't like what he saw in the Colorado Avalanche's return to practice on Thursday. Rust and players not having their legs underneath them were apparent in that first skate, which could have been predicted after an eight-day layoff with the team on pause and in quarantine due to the league's COVID-19 protocol.
The second day of on-ice training was much improved in the bench boss's eyes.
"Our group today was much better, as we expected them to be compared to yesterday," Bednar said.
Part of the jump in Friday's skate at Family Sports Center came in the form of reinforcements from the Avs' American Hockey League club, the Colorado Eagles, who have been practicing for the past three weeks in preparation for their season opener on Saturday in San Diego. Defensemen Kyle Burroughs, Dennis Gilbert, Jacob MacDonald and Dan Renouf and forwards Sheldon Dries, Jayson Megna, Miikka Salmaki and T.J. Tynan were called up.

"We've recalled a bunch of guys to fill out the taxi squad. Because of all the guys that are on COVID protocol, we were able to move some guys to the main roster and then fill in the taxi squad so we're ready when we go on the road," Bednar said. "Once you're on the road and if something happens and you're without guys, it's tough to bring them in and have them meet the requirements in order to play."
Colorado will practice again on Saturday before starting a four-game set against the Vegas Golden Knights, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 5 p.m. MT at T-Mobile Arena. The two clubs will also square off in the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe on Saturday, Feb. 20, before closing the series in Denver two days later.
Vegas leads the West Division with 17 points, but the Golden Knights have also just started playing again after having their own pause while in league protocol.
"It's a good team, and we haven't played in a while and what better team to play against when you come back, right?," said Colorado forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. "You have to get back straight right away, focus, because they're going to be coming out blazing, right? So we have to be ready for sure."
Bellemare is one of three players that is expected to be back in the lineup after missing time due to injury prior to Colorado's shutdown, along with fellow center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Devon Toews.
The three skated for the first time on Thursday after sustaining different lower-body injuries.
"They went through another practice today. No complications from yesterday's practice, they were back at it again today, and all three guys said they're feeling good," said Bednar, who noted they were all still on track to return to game action this weekend.
MacKinnon only missed one full game with his ailment after not being able to play in the third period of Colorado's overtime loss at the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 31.
Bellemare and Toews both got hurt in the Jan. 28 contest versus the San Jose Sharks. Bellemare was injured late in the first period during a collision in the neutral zone while Toews blocked a shot off his foot in the final stanza.
Due to the Avalanche's pause, the two skaters will only miss three contests.
"I guess a little blessing in disguise getting this break and getting, more than just me, a little healthier," Toews said. "You know I feel pretty good on the ice. Things are starting to come back slowly--it wasn't too long of a break. The trainers and staff have done a great job of getting me ready."
With Colorado on pause for much of the past two weeks, Bellemare had to do much of his rehab at home while also trying to control two young toddlers.
"I'm doing stuff and my daughter is on the staircase trying to do the same drills as I'm doing--she's 17 months old. My son is trying to play with the rubber bands that I'm using for my rehab," Bellemare said of his unique home training room.
"It's never fun to be injured and there is never good timing, but obviously the fact that we got shut down and you don't have to worry about rushing the rehab, you can focus on it. It's not easy to do rehab at home, maybe, but the positive side of it is I didn't have to stress so much about coming back. I could focus on it, so I feel comfortable. [The injury] looked worse than it was, so I'm pretty happy about that too."
Matt Calvert (upper body), Erik Johnson (upper body) and goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) are also out with injuries, but Calvert will be allowed to skate over the weekend and could join the team for practice next week.
"He's going through a quarantine as he did some travel to get looked at and get evaluated and get some help for his injury," Bednar said of Calvert, who last played on Jan. 24 in Anaheim. "So he's back in town, in quarantine and working out on his own. Should be on the ice for us this weekend (skating by himself) and then we just have to get him up to speed. He's missed quite a bit of time, so we'll see what our practice time and ice time looks like next week when we start adding these guys back in the mix."
Colorado could also get its three player that are currently on the league's COVID protocol list back around that time as well. Samuel Girard, Tyson Jost and Gabriel Landeskog are all listed and currently in quarantine.
"They have to do a full 10 days and then they can do their cardiac testing and then they can start doing a light workout," Bednar said. "On the 14th day they're back in the rink. So they're hitting it at different points… It will be middle of next week before we get some of those guys back."