Avs Defense Needs Group Effort

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--No one or two players can fill the void left by defensemen Erik Johnson and Anton Lindholm. It will have to be a group effort for the Colorado Avalanche blueliners.
Johnson and Lindholm are out indefinitely after suffering upper-body injuries in the club's last game on Sunday versus the Edmonton Oilers, and neither skater is on the Avs' three-game road trip, which kicks off tonight at the Vancouver Canucks.

"It's obviously tough to see," said Tyson Barrie, now the elder defenseman for Colorado. "It's not one guy's job to step up and fill any roles. It's going to be by committee, and I think we have some guys that can come up and will get their chance to play a lot of minutes. It will be a good opportunity."
Filling in on backend tonight will be Duncan Siemens and David Warsofsky, both of whom have only played one NHL contest this year. Siemens was recalled from the AHL's San Antonio Rampage on Feb. 13, while Warsofsky and fellow blueliner Andrei Mironov were called up on Monday afternoon.

Siemens and Warsofsky will be one of the Avs' pairings this evening, while Barrie will play with Nikita Zadorov. The club's other defensive duo of Samuel Girard and Patrik Nemeth will continue to play with one another.
While the three defensive combos will start the game as aligned, they probably won't stay that way for the entire contest.
"They're going to be bounced around a little bit," head coach Jared Bednar said of the Avs' D-pairings. "Just the nature of where we're at with the pairs. They'll be mixed up a little bit at times throughout the game."

Warsofsky is known as more of an offensive defenseman that can create plays for the forwards. He has six points (two goals and four assists) in 40 career NHL games and has 20 points (four goals and 16 assists) in 44 contests with San Antonio this season.
"I think just come in and play my game and do what I can to help the team win." Warsofsky said. "Obviously, the forwards have been a strong point on this team all along, and I think the more they have the puck, the more success we'll have."

Siemens, who was picked No. 11 overall by Colorado in the 2011 NHL Draft, has suited up in five games with the Avs during his pro career and understands the importance of the D-men upping their game a little more for the final 24 contests of the season.
"It's important that guys like myself and everybody in our locker room just steps up. Those are obviously big holes to fill," Siemens told ColoradoAvalanche.com on Monday. "Everybody knows how important E.J. is to this team. We are still right there, and we are in some tight hockey games and wins that we need to have. Everyone has just got to step up and find a way to get the job done."
The loss of Johnson and Lindholm comes at an inopportune time with the Avalanche fighting for a playoff spot in the standings. The club was also already down a rear guard as Mark Barberio has missed the last 11 contests with a lower-body ailment and hasn't been skating recently.
"It's a huge test. That's three of our top six that are out right now," Bednar said. "You got to find a way to keep things going or get things back on track without them. That's the nature of the business. Injuries, we can't control. It's definitely going to be a tough test for our group. Trying to simplify some things coming in and out of our zone. A lot more responsibility, even on our forwards, to make sure we're playing on the other end of the rink."
This will be the Avs' second of three meetings versus the Canucks this season, and the last game this season at Rogers Arena. Colorado hosts Vancouver in the series finale on Monday.

YAK BACK IN

Nail Yakupov will return to the Avalanche's lineup this evening after being a healthy scratch for the past two games.
Colorado is aiming for him to add a little offense to the team's fourth line that includes rookie center Tyson Jost and left wing Gabriel Bourque.
"We're going to use him on the power play, too. We need to find a way to produce some offense, and he's a guy that should be able to help us with that," Bednar said of Yakupov. "He's been out for a couple of games, so hopefully he comes back hungry and can produce for us tonight."
Dominic Toninato will be scratched for the first time this season, while Andrei Mironov will also watch the Avs' game from beyond the glass.

BERNIER UPDATE

The latest on Jonathan Bernier is that there isn't really any update, but the goaltender is doing better after getting hurt in Friday's contest at the Winnipeg Jets. He is not on the team's trip to Western Canada.
"He's making progress, but he's still under protocol," Bednar said after the Avs' morning skate in Vancouver.
Bernier appeared to hurt his head in the second period of that outing versus the Jets after he was run into by a Winnipeg player. He did not play in the third period of that contest.
Netminder Semyon Varlamov will play in his fourth straight game tonight and make his third consecutive start in goal for Colorado. Surrey, British Columbia, native Andrew Hammond will be the backup.

PROJECTED LINEUP

Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Colin Wilson - Alex Kerfoot - J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau
Gabriel Bourque - Tyson Jost - Nail Yakupov
Nikita Zadorov - Tyson Barrie
Samuel Girard - Patrik Nemeth
Duncan Siemens - David Warsofsky
Semyon Varlamov
Andrew Hammond