Coming off a 4-1 Tuesday night win over the Minnesota Wild in its exhibition season opener, the Avalanche will use a predominantly different lineup in its Wednesday night matchup with the Dallas Stars at the Pepsi Center.
Only four skaters — forwards Joe Whitney, Ben Smith, Rocco Grimaldi and J.T. Compher — are scheduled to play both nights. Calvin Pickard will get the start in the Colorado net and be backed up by Kent Simpson, who is under an AHL contract with the Colorado organization.
As was the case for the game against Minnesota, neither Erik Johnson (United States) nor Nathan MacKinnon (Team North America), who rejoined the team this week after playing in the World Cup of Hockey’s preliminary round, will play against the Stars.