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Colorado leads best-of-7 series, 2-0
Nick Schmaltz will not play for the Arizona Coyotes in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round against the Colorado Avalanche at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday.
The forward, who scored 45 points (11 goals, 34 assists) in 70 regular-season games, hasn't played since sustaining an undisclosed injury in a 4-1 exhibition loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Edmonton, the hub city for the West, on July 30.
"He's frustrated right now so we need a couple days where he's smiling and saying he's ready to go," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said after Schmaltz practiced on Thursday. "Until I hear that, we play ahead with what we have."
Goalie Pavel Francouz will start for Colorado in the second game of a back to back. Philipp Grubauer made 30 saves in a 3-2 win on Friday, has saved 44 of 46 shots in the first two games, and is 3-0-1 in the postseason.
Francouz had 27 saves in a 4-0 win against the Dallas Stars in the round-robin portion of the Cup Qualifiers on Aug. 5.
Darcy Kuemper is expected to start for the Coyotes after saving 62 of 68 shots in the first two games.
Teams with a 2-0 lead are 324-51 (86.4 percent) winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series. Teams with a 3-0 lead are 190-4 (97.9 percent).
Here are 3 keys for Game 3:
1. Avalanche depth
Colorado has gotten goals from six different forwards and three lines in the first two games. Tyson Jost, in the lineup because Joonas Donskoi was ruled unfit to play, scored in the second period in Game 2. Andre Burakovsky broke a 2-2 tie with 2:53 left in the third period after moving from the third line to the second after Vladislav Namestnikov was injured in a collision with Nathan MacKinnon.
"A different line, a different player, whatever the case may be, has been stepping up at different times during the course of our season," Bednar said. "Things have been juggling around a little bit. Burakovsky played with a bunch of different people, and he was good."
2. Quick turnaround
Arizona played much better in Game 2, had 32 shots after being limited to 14 in Game 1, and used its speed and a more aggressive style to spend quality time in the Colorado end.
"I think the last couple years I've been here, we always bounce back, always put good efforts out there," forward Michael Grabner said. "It's a nice, quick turnaround so we don't have to think about this loss too much. We've got to get ready for tomorrow, put the same effort out there and just get one more goal."
3. Third-period play
The Avalanche have outscored the Coyotes 4-0 in the third period in the first two games and have an 8-1 edge in the third in five postseason games.
"We always want to make sure we come out strong in the third and play our game," Grubauer said. "The more we can skate and the more we can get the puck in their zone and play smart and play fast the more it's going to help us."
Bednar said after Game 2 that Donskoi and Namestnikov were day to day. Donskoi skated in the warmup but didn't play. Namestnikov left in the second period after the collision with MacKinnon.
