Winger Blake Comeau, who didn’t practice Tuesday because of a back issue, will be in the Avalanche lineup Wednesday night against the Anaheim Ducks, Colorado coach Patrick Roy said after the morning skate.
Defenseman Chris Bigras will be out because of a concussion and defenseman Zach Redmond is expected to play after also missing Tuesday’s practice with a lower body injury. Roy said a decision on Redmond would be made after the warmup.
Before stepping in for Bigras in the pairing with Eric Gelinas Monday against Arizona, Redmond had been a healthy scratch for 13 consecutive games.
Redmond said that returning to the lineup “was the easy part. You want to play. It’s exciting for me. You always hate sitting out and after a while you kind of get numb to it a little bit after a month or so … To be back in the fold and be part of the run we have, you want to contribute and take steps toward the playoffs.”
Was there rust to scrape off?
“I don’t think so,” Redmond said. “You get back in and for me anyway, it’s like you were there the whole time. While you’re sitting it’s terrible, but when you’re back in, not a lot changes for me, it’s just exciting to be back in and try and contribute again.”
Roy said of Redmond’s play against Arizona: “I thought he was fine. I thought he had a good game. His gap was good and that was the thing we were looking at. I thought he made some good plays offensively. If he’s capable of playing tonight, he’ll play.”
The Avalanche can move ahead of Minnesota in the chase for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot with at least one point against the torrid Ducks, who are 18-1-2 in their last 21 games. Minnesota will have two games in hand on Colorado after Tuesday night, though.
Semyon Varlamov, who had 37 saves in his return to the crease in the 3-1 win over Arizona Monday, will be back in the net against Anaheim in the 8 p.m. game.
“Consistency. It was not easy to make that decision,” Roy said of benching Varlamov for two Calvin Pickard starts. “But it was for the good of the team … I’m very proud of him. He worked hard on his game and worked with Francois Allaire in those practices. He didn’t look for excuses and came in against Arizona and played a solid game.”
Roy added, “It’s not just him. I guess it’s a lot easier that you see him as the goalie and if he’s not playing, he’s on the bench and people ask questions. But it’s the same thing for Nate MacKinnon, for (Gabe) Landeskog, for (Matt) Duchene, for (Erik) Johnson, for (Tyson) Barrie. They are part of our core and these are the guys that we believe are going to help this team reach its goal … Whatever it takes to make the playoffs.”
After the game against the Ducks, Colorado has a stretch of four consecutive games in Canada. The Avs play at Winnipeg Saturday, then will return to Denver for two days before heading back out for games at Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. The stretch will either keep the Avs in the hunt for a playoff spot or just about rule them out.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @TFrei
