Defense Looks To Step Up In Barrie's Absence

Tyson Barrie's career season will have to be put on hold for at least a month.
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar revealed this morning that the defenseman will miss the next four-to-six weeks after breaking his hand while blocking a shot in Saturday's game at the Arizona Coyotes.

"He's going to the doc today, and then I think he's going to have a procedure tomorrow. Then he'll be four-to-six weeks," Bednar said following the Avs' morning skate, the club's first team activity since the three-day NHL Holiday Break.
That timetable could allow Barrie to return to the lineup between the NHL All-Star Break at the end of January and the start of a three-game road trip in St. Louis on Feb. 8.
Barrie was making a case to go to the league's mid-season showcase prior to getting hurt, as he entered the holiday break second among all NHL blueliners in scoring with 27 points (four goals and 23 assists) in 34 games. He was on pace to set career highs in assists and points.

"He's definitely a big loss for us. He's our best offensive guy we have back here," said Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson. "It is definitely a loss, but we have to step up and other guys will have to fill the void."
The Victoria, British Columbia, native was injured just before the six-minute mark of the first period in Colorado's 5-2 win at Arizona when he blocked a shot from Oliver-Ekman Larsson. After being checked on at the bench, Barrie went back to the Avs' locker room for further evaluation and was soon ruled out for the remainder of the contest.
Bednar says there are other ways to defend on a scoring chance against than blocking a shot, such as positioning with one's body or stick, but sometimes there are no other options other than to get in front of a flying puck.
"I think sometimes though you're in a position where you need to block a shot," Bednar said. "I think in Barrie's instance there, he does the right thing. He just steps in front of a shot. Didn't look like a hard shot, I think it just caught him in the wrong spot. It's luck of the draw."

With Barrie expected to miss at least 12 contests, the Avs will look internally to fill his spot, at least in the short term.
His usual defensive partner, Patrik Nemeth, will play with Mark Barberio for the Avalanche's rematch outing this evening versus the Coyotes, while Samuel Girard and Johnson will help shoulder the load on the power play.
Barrie was leading the club's top power-play unit, which was helping the club click at a 19.2-percent success rate overall and 26.6 percent at home--fifth best in the NHL.
Girard and Johnson were splitting time on the second man-advantage group, but Bednar said that Johnson will be on the first unit for the time being, while Girard will man the second group.
"I think we all have to step up, all the defense, to make sure to help cover his spot," Girard said. "Barrie was bringing a lot of offense for us, so we have to be better in the three zones, offensively, defensively and neutral zone. We have to be better everywhere for him."

Johnson is already playing some of the most minutes in the league this season, and he's embracing the possibility of playing a few more a night.
"It will be a little extra here and there, but it shouldn't be too hard to handle," Johnson said. "I feel good and ready for the extra load, for sure."
Bednar said the Avalanche will probably recall a player from the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League to give the team some flexibility on the backend while Barrie is out, but that player won't be available to assist this evening.
The Rampage also has a game tonight as it plays at the Texas Stars.

PK SUCCESS

The Avalanche has killed 24 consecutive penalties, the team's longest streak since having a run of 25 straight from Feb. 24 to March 12, 2016.
Colorado's last power-play goal against was nine games ago on Dec. 7 at the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"It's been really good. It's been a commitment from those guys that are playing in those situations. I think they've done an outstanding job," Bednar said of his penalty-kill groups. "The other night in Phoenix, there were numerous blocks by our defensemen, especially on some flank shots. They did a nice job of getting into the shooting lanes. When we need a big save, right now our goaltending is giving us that. It's an all-around commitment, communication, dedication on what we're doing."
The Avs enter tonight's game ranked seventh in the NHL on the PK at 82.9 percent. They are the second best short-handed unit at home at 92.6 percent.

PROJECTED LINEUP

Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Sven Andrighetto - J.T. Compher - Colin Wilson
Blake Comeau - Carl Soderberg - Matt Nieto
Tyson Jost - Alex Kerfoot - Nail Yakupov
Nikita Zadorov - Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth - Mark Barberio
Samuel Girard - Anton Lindholm
Semyon Varlamov
Jonathan Bernier