In response to the scoring slumps of young centers Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy will tweak his lines for Friday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers at Pepsi Center.
Duchene, riding an eight-game goals drought and having scored just twice in his last 13 games, will center left wing Gabe Landeskog and right wing Daniel Briere. MacKinnon, who has struck just once in 19 games, will play right wing with center John Mitchell and Max Talbot on the left side.
Duchene previously played with MacKinnon and Talbot, although Roy moved Talbot to the fourth line midway through .
“Let’s try this and see how it goes,” Roy said after a brief practice Thursday.
Duchene has produced just three shots in his last three games. MacKinnon has 11 shots during that span but most have been from the outside. With his elite speed, the 19-year-old MacKinnon is capable of beating defenders to the net by skating the puck wide, and producing a scoring chance or drawing a penalty. Too often he has put on the brakes and looked for the trailer or tried to stick-handle through a defenseman in the middle.
“We’d like to see him challenging the defensemen more (wide),” Roy said. “It’s something we’re talking a lot about, and he knows he needs to challenge.”
Ryan O’Reilly will center Alex Tanguay (left) and Jarome Iginla. Rookie Borna Rendulic — who played with O’Reilly and Landeskog against the Flyers and became the first Croatian-born player to score in the NHL — will return to the fourth line with center Marc-Andre Cliche and left wing Cody McLeod.
Rendulic, who from the minors for the second time this season, will stick with the big club for the foreseeable future. Roy said he no longer wants to carry 11 forwards and have defenseman Nick Holden round out the fourth line.
The Avs are carrying an extra defenseman, with Zach Redmond serving as the team’s only healthy scratch Wednesday.
“It all depends on how he’s going to play, how well he plays. But if he plays like he did (Wednesday) night, yeah, he could be here for a while,” Roy said of Rendulic, 22, who is in his first season playing outside of Croatia. “I don’t think (Jesse) Winchester is going to be back soon, I don’t think (Patrick) Bordeleau will be back soon and I don’t think (Jamie) McGinn will be back soon. That’s three forwards, and we feel using a D at forward is not an option we’re looking at. And with just seven D and sometimes playing every other day, it’s too demanding.”
Added Rendulic: “Day by day here.”
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mikechambers
EDMONTON AT COLORADO
7 p.m. Friday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Nail Yakupov: The Russian right wing is only 21, too young to predict his future. But he is shaping up to be one of the biggest busts in NHL draft history or is in desperate need of a trade. Drafted first overall in 2012, Yakupov is minus-57 in a three-year career that began promising as a rookie in the 2013 lockout-shortened season, when he had 17 goals in 48 games. He slipped to 11 goals in 63 games last season and has scored only four goals in 38 games with the Oilers this season. Granted, he plays for the NHL’s weakest team, but it’s a team that isn’t getting much of anything from him.
NOTEBOOK
• Oilers: They practiced Thursday at the Pepsi Center, but forwards Tyler Hall and Tyler Pitlick didn’t participate. … Edmonton is 1-0-1 in its past two games but previously lost nine in a row. The Oilers lost 4-3 in overtime at Calgary on Wednesday, after a 3-2 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Edmonton on Tuesday. Against the Kings, interim coach Todd Nelson was the bench boss for the first time without general manager Craig MacTavish accompanying him at ice level. MacTavish formerly coached the team and recently fired coach Dallas Eakins after Eakins compiled the NHL’s worst record.
• Avalanche: Forward Cody McLeod and defenseman Erik Johnson took the day off from practice Thursday. Winger Jesse Winchester also didn’t skate and won’t anytime soon. The Avs are shutting him down, hoping his postconcussion symptoms subside with no on-ice activities. Winchester has yet to play this season since suffering a preseason concussion. “He’s in super shape and doing everything he can, but I think it’s time for him to stay away from the rink and work out in the gym,” coach Patrick Roy said. … The Avs will have only one healthy scratch, defensemen Nick Holden or Zach Redmond, who was the odd man out of Wednesday night’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
— Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
