NASHVILLE — Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog will not play tonight in Music City, missing his second straight game with back spasms. Landeskog, goalie Semyon Varlamov and a couple other guys briefly skated at the Predators’ practice facility Saturday morning, but the rest of the team had off-ice workouts at Bridgestone Arena, which hosted a Auburn-Middle Tennessee basketball game at noon.
This will be the first basketball-hockey, same-day turnaround in the building’s history.
This is Bridgestone Arena Game 1 of BB-hockey doubleheader. Auburn at M.Tennessee. play at 7
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers)
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said Varlamov will start against the Preds but he has not determined the starter for Sunday’s late-afternoon game at St. Louis. The three-game trip concludes Tuesday at Chicago.
Avalanche lineup at NSH:
Grigorenko-MacKinnon-Duchene
Martinsen-Soderberg-Comeau
Tanguay-Mitchell-Iginla
McLeod-Wagner-Skille
Beauchemin-Johnson
Holden-Barrie
Gormley-Guenin
Varlamov
Berra
Avalanche GM Joe Sakic was at Friday’s DU hockey game, scouting Pioneers defenseman Will Butcher and St. Cloud State forward Ben Storm, a 6-foot-7 former defenseman. Butcher and Storm, both juniors, were selected by the Avs in the 2013 draft. Neither had a point in the Huskies’ 5-2 win at Magness Arena, both firing two shots.
