Columbus is getting healthier on the back end while Colorado gets thinner. Ivan Provorov finally made his season debut in Dallas after missing the first 11 games with a lower-body injury, the first games he'd ever missed in 10 seasons. He played 19:31 with almost no practice behind him. Rick Bowness put it this way: "If there's one guy that can play without practicing for a couple weeks, it's him." Dante Fabbro has also come off IR after a hand injury. With a few more days of practice, Provorov should be closer to his usual 24-minute workload by Tuesday.
The Blue Jackets' problem is scoring early. In Dallas they went 40 minutes without a goal, Damon Severson's 3rd-period goal was all they got, and Mikko Rantanen and Thomas Harley had already put the Stars up in the 1st. Against Carolina they fell behind 3-0 and came most of the way back before falling short. When they do score, it's been late: Adam Fantilli's overtime winner beat Vegas, and Denton Mateychuk scored with Zach Werenski picking up 2 assists in a 4-3 overtime win over Philadelphia, with Cam Talbot making 28 saves. This team keeps games close, but it keeps falling behind first.
Colorado's season so far has swung back and forth. The Avalanche are 7-5-1 and 2-3 in their last 5 as of Sunday, and the results have been all over the place: 6-3 over Tampa Bay and 5-2 over New Jersey at home, then 6-2 losses at Nashville and 1-goal losses at Philadelphia and New Jersey. Their bad nights have come on the road, and this one is on the road at the end of a back-to-back.
There's also a goalie question for Columbus. Jet Greaves started in Carolina and Talbot has been winning games, so who starts Tuesday is still open. On paper Colorado has more talent. In practice it'll be a tired team missing its most physical defenseman against a Columbus team that has been slow to start. Whether Colorado wins this probably depends on whether it can score early before Columbus makes its usual late push.
