Roy’s Changes for Colorado Avalanche vs Florida Panthers

The Colorado Avalanche didn’t get quite the start to the road trip they were hoping for. Hasn’t that been the story all season? For the third of five road games, the Avalanche are facing the Florida Panthers in the BB&T Center in Miami.

Roster Changes

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During the Behind the Bench morning show on The Fan, head coach

announced that center

had been reassigned to the Lake Erie Monsters. Street had been out for several weeks with a hand injury. He returned for one game, the match against the Carolina Hurricanes.

In the game against the Hurricanes, Street had no shots on goal and just one hit. He did, however, record a faceoff percentage of 67%, winning four out his six faced. That percentage was the best on the team. Even though the Avalanche have struggled in that department, that apparently wasn’t enough for coach Roy to keep the young center in the lineup for now.

Instead, the Avs have recalled right wing Dennis Everberg from the Monsters. Everberg has played 19 games with the Avalanche, recording one goal and three assists. Everberg was sent back to Lake Erie 2 1/2 weeks ago. Coach Roy says he discussed with Avalanche GM Joe Sakic the possibility of bringing Everberg back:

“Yesterday I spoke to Joe. I just thought that we needed a little bit more size and a little bit more speed in our lineup. And we decided to send down Ben Street and call up Dennis Everberg. We talked about it, and my view of the lines.”

Speaking of lines, Everberg’s going to be on a line with Borna Rendulic and John Mitchell. Well, he’s starting there anyway…

Line Changes

Coach Roy never met a line he didn’t want to change — especially when scoring becomes a problem.

In the game against the Hurricanes, the Avalanche were running three scoring lines and one energy line. For instance, Ryan O’Reilly centered veterans Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay. Matt Duchene centered Gabriel Landeskog and…Daniel Briere? I don’t remember. He had been playing with Borna Rendulic, who was a scratch.

And Roy put Duchene back with the vets after the Avalanche’s dismal first period. Roy said of his decision:

“In the last game I put him back with Tanguay and Iginla, and I thought he had great moments in that game. He scored another big goal against the Hurricanes in the last game. It was an important one because it made it a 2-1 game early in the third period.”

O’Reilly ended up back with Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, who had been on a line with Max Talbot and John Mitchell.

Marc-Andre Cliche is the Avalanche’s healthy scratch for the game, making the fourth line Cody McLeod, Daniel Briere and Max Talbot — to start with anyway.

Tweets About the Game

Wingers Borna Rendulic and Dennis Everberg are going to be linemates. Radio host Marc Moser tweeted pictures of the two performing during the morning skate.

Rendulic was a healthy scratch in the game against Carolina. However, he looks ready to make his mark on the team:

The Florida Panthers aren’t taking this game lightly either. They have gone 13-6-3 in their last 22 games. They’re just three points out of a wild card spot in the playoffs. That’s a drastic different from last year, when they were 29th in the entire NHL. That stat allowed them to pick first in the NHL Draft — and they used the draft pick to select defenseman Aaron Ekblad.

The Panthers also made a roster change before the game:

The Avs look ready for match tonight:

The Colorado Avalanche vs Florida Panthers game starts at 5:30 pm MST.