Eurolanche

Johnson could return for Avalanche

Season series: Gabriel Landeskog scored with 17 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 6. Mikhail Grigorenko and Nathan Mackinnon scored for Colorado, which trailed 3-1. Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist for St. Louis. The Avalanche defeated the Blues 3-1 on Dec. 13. Semyon Varlamov made 42 saves for Colorado, which was outshot 43-18.

Blues team scope: St. Louis is expected to have defenseman Carl Gunnarsson and Colton Parayko available after they missed a 2-1 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. Gunnarsson was supposed to return from an upper-body injury but because the Blues did not properly remove him from injured reserve in time, they had to play with five defensemen. Parayko was scratched with flu-like symptoms. "These are big games, two division games now coming back (including Sunday at the Chicago Blackhawks), get a bunch of defensemen back hopefully in a day, so that's going to help us quite a bit," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Overall, we've got to keep going." Goalie Brian Elliott will start; he is 5-1-0 with a 2.03 goals-against average and .938 save percentage since Jake Allen sustained a lower-body injury Jan. 8.

Avalanche team scope: Defenseman Erik Johnson could return to the lineup. Johnson, who missed eight games with a lower-body injury, skated Thursday. "I passed the conditioning test on the ice," Johnson told the Denver Post. "I should be ready to go any day now. ... I feel good, strong and ready to go." The Avalanche went 5-3-0 without him. "It'll definitely be Friday or Saturday," Johnson said. Coach Patrick Roy told the newspaper he will wait for clearance from the medical staff. "I'm certainly not going to jump the gun on this situation," Roy said. "(Head athletic trainer) Matt [Sokolowski] will make the decision on when he's ready to play." Roy said the tentative plan is to start Varlamov on Friday and Saturday at the Dallas Stars.

-- by Louie Korac for NHL.com --