Goaltender Calvin Pickard will make his sixth consecutive start for the Colorado Avalanche, who remain without Semyon Varlamov because of a groin injury. "I would say the last little bit now that [Pickard] has settled in and knows he's going, he's got back to his old game and not trying to do too much … just being himself in the net," coach Jared Bednar said. "I think he put a bit of pressure on himself with [Varlamov] out." Varlamov hasn't played since Dec. 22 and has missed eight of the past 10 games because of a groin injury. "He's progressing," Bednar said. "He's at home skating on his own right now and doing some work off the ice. We felt with him not being able to play on the trip, to leave him there and get some work done. We'll see when we get back there [Thursday] and try to figure out exactly what his timeline is going to be." Pickard has a 3.65 goals against average and .887 save percentage in his past five starts. He has lost four straight, and Colorado is 1-9-0 and has been outscored 39-16 in its past games overall. "We haven't supported him the way we should," forward Joe Colborne said. "He's in there battling for every puck. Without the way his goaltending has been there could've been some real, real ugly games. We definitely have let him down in that respect, but not once have we heard a single negative thing from him. I can't say enough for the way he's approached it."
