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BREAKING: Avalanche Head coach has been sacked with immediate effect after an intense meeting ….
The Dallas Stars will be without centre Roope Hintz for a second straight game because of an upper-body injury.
Hintz will miss Game 6 of their second-round series with the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night. The Stars can advance to the Western Conference Final for the second year in a row with a win.
The 27-year-old Hintz left Monday’s 5-1 victory at Colorado after blocking a shot in the first period. Earlier in the game, he went down hard when he was cross-checked by Nathan MacKinnon. Hintz has two goals and four assists in 11 games this post-season.
Colorado will be without centre Yakov Trenin, who plays a big role on the penalty kill, because of an upper-body injury he suffered in a 5-3 win at Dallas on Wednesday.
Trenin’s classified as day-to-day, coach Jared Bednar said Friday after morning practice.
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Avalanche Gameday: Next Man Up With No Trenin.
The Colorado Avalanche are used to the “next man up” mentality and have been all season. That won’t change for Game Six on Friday night.
Yakov Trenin, who left Game Five in the first period, will not be available to play for the Avalanche. He’s dealing with an upper-body injury, and it looked like it might have occurred right off the face-off here.
I think this face-off might be where Yakov Trenin’s injury occurs. He took one shift after, but it was a short one. After this, he’s on the bench in a lot of pain.
“He’s on the shelf for tonight’s game,” Jared Bednar said after morning skate. “Still classify him as day-to-day, though.”
Based on what I saw at morning skate, which was very optional, expect Chris Wagner to enter the lineup in his place. He got off the ice with all of the other regulars. That’s hardly a surprise, as he’s a center and had playoff experience coming into this season. He played in Game One of this series and filled in admirably.
I know some on the internet want the Avalanche to throw Gabriel Landeskog into the lineup, if only to sit on the bench and be an extra coach, but that seems unlikely. Landeskog did not skate this morning.
Having to throw in another body is something the organization is used to at this point.
“Done it all year,” Miles Wood said. “There was a rare opportunity where we had a full lineup in. At the end of the day, it’s just about the guys in the room and tryin got win a hockey game.”
Colorado losing Trenin hurts the center depth, but it’s not nearly as big as loss as what Dallas is dealing with. They’ll be without Roope Hintz again, which might be equivalent to the Avalanche having to play without Valeri Nichushkin. He’s handles a lot of tough matchups for the Stars, and while Radek Faksa is a decent player, he doesn’t come close to matching what Hintz can do. Colorado took advantage of Hintz not being there in Game Five, and will look to do it again.
