DENVER -- Two teams experiencing prolonged slumps, the New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche, face off tonight at the Pepsi Center.

The Islanders have gone 1-5-2 since beginning the season with three wins in their first four games, while the Avalanche are in a 1-5-1 slide after winning six of the first eight games.

Both teams will start a goalie -- Al Montoya for New York and Jean-Sebastien Giguere for Colorado -- that played well in relief in the previous game. Montoya stopped 22 of 24 shots after replacing Evgeni Nabokov on Monday in the Islanders' 6-2 loss in Boston, while Giguere turned aside 12 of 13 shots after taking over for Semyon Varlamov on Tuesday in the Avalanche's 5-2 loss in Detroit.

Giguere, who signed a two-year, $2.5 million contract as a free agent July 1, will be making his first home appearance as a member of the Avalanche. He has a 2-1-0 record with a 1.98 goals-against average and .924 save percentage.

"I'm very excited," Giguere said after this morning's skate. "I think it's a great building to play in. it should be easier, I guess, to play at home although (it hasn't been). I'm looking forward to playing in front of our home fans. I feel good, rested. If there's any positive to being a backup, at least you should be rested when you get to play, and you should be excited. I feel like a little kid."

The Avalanche have scored just seven goals while losing five of six home games this season. Three of the goals came Oct. 30 in a 3-2 win against Los Angeles.

"This is a must-win for us," said Giguere, who stopped 31 of 34 shots in his previous start, a 4-2 loss in Calgary on Oct. 26. "We have to stop the bleeding right now. We can't let this go on any longer. We need to establish ourselves at home."

The Avalanche, who have gone 0-3-1 in the past four games overall, held a players-only meeting after practice Wednesday.

"We've done enough talking; now it's time to see some action," Giguere said. "We have no chance in hell in this League to make the playoffs if you don't (win at home). We had a good team meeting yesterday afternoon -- players only -- and we made sure that everybody's desperate level needs to go up a bit. Hopefully we will see that tonight."

Avalanche fans won't see left wing Peter Mueller, who had hoped to play after taking part in Wednesday's practice and in this morning's skate. Mueller, who missed all of last season to recover from a concussion, will sit out his 12th consecutive game with what the team lists as a head injury.

"He's still listed as day to day," Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. "We thought there might be a chance that he might play, but after the morning skate … he's not ready yet. He's still improving."

Montoya will make his first start since Oct. 20, when he stopped 26 of 30 shots in a 4-1 loss at Tampa Bay. He owns a 2-2-0 record with a 2.12 GAA and .928 save percentage.

The Islanders, who still are carrying three goalies, will use Rick DiPietro as the backup tonight.

The game also will feature a matchup between the Islanders' John Tavares and the Avalanche's Matt Duchene, the first and third picks, respectively, in the 2009 Entry Draft.

Tavares has 2 goals in the three previous meetings, all New York wins, while Duchene has none. Tavares leads the Islanders in scoring this season with 8 goals and 5 assists in 12 games. Duchene is tops among Avalanche scorers with 5 goals and 7 assists in 15 games.

The Islanders have beaten the Avalanche five times in a row and are 7-0-2 against Colorado since a 1-0 regulation loss in Denver on Nov. 16, 2001.

SAN JOSE -- Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom, coming off a 41-save, 3-0 shutout against Calgary, will make his second straight start Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks, coach Mike Yeo said after his team's morning skate.

Backup goaltender Josh Harding had won four straight games, allowing a combined three goals, before Backstrom returned to the lineup against Calgary.

"It's not a problem," Yeo said of having to choose between two red-hot goalies. "It's two goalies playing well. It's not a problem.

"Certainly it's up to us to manage that and manage both guys and make sure that their heads are in the right place, but both are character guys, both are team-first guys and both have been doing everything they can to help the team win. So to me it sounds more like a blessing than a problem."

Backstrom is 4-3-2 with a 2.05 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. Harding is 4-0-1 with a 1.18 GAA and a .965 save percentage.

Forward Cal Clutterbuck will return to the lineup after missing the Calgary game with an upper-body injury.

Here's how the lineups could look Thursday night when the Sharks host the Wild at HP Pavilion:

SHARKS
Joe Pavelski - Joe Thornton - Logan Couture
Ryane Clowe - Patrick Marleau - Martin Havlat
Jamie McGinn - Michal Handzus - Torrey Mitchell
Brad Winchester - Andrew Desjardins - Andrew Murray

Dan Boyle - Douglas Murray
Brent Burns - Colin White
Justin Braun - Marc-Edouard Vlasic

Antti Niemi
Thomas Greiss

WIILD
Guillaume Latendresse - Mikko Koivu - Dany Heatley
Devin Setoguchi - Matt Cullen - Pierre-Marc Bouchard
Cal Clutterbuck - Kyle Brodziak - Nick Johnson
Colton Gillies - Darroll Powe - Brad Staubitz

Nick Schultz - Marek Zidlicky
Marco Scandella - Jared Spurgeon
Justin Falk - Nate Prosser

Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Colin Fraser has been a Los Angeles King since June, but he has yet to slip a game jersey over his pads.

"Unless you count the three pictures I took in a practice just to include me in the program," said Fraser, "no, I haven't put it on yet."

That long wait will end Thursday night when the Kings insert Fraser and Trent Hunter into their lineup against the Vancouver Canucks.

Fraser is expected to play at fourth line center while Hunter will get a turn at third line wing following Scott Parse's placement on the injured list with a lower-body injury.

Fraser was officially activated Thursday to end a months-long saga that began when he played his last game March 29, for Edmonton, and suffered a broken foot that forced him to miss the final two weeks of the season.

He was traded to L.A., along with a seventh-round draft pick in 2012, in exchange for Ryan Smyth in June before it was learned that he needed surgery in July to repair the foot.

The Kings filed a grievance with the NHL that claimed the Oilers misled them on the severity of the injury. The grievance will be heard later this month.

Meanwhile, Fraser has been practicing with the team for weeks.

"It's been a long time since I played last," said Fraser, a member of Chicago's 2010 Stanley Cup team.

"I've been champing at the bit for a little bit here. With getting in shape, learning the systems … hopefully I'll be ready to go. To get a chance is very exciting.

"I think I'll just be antsy a little bit. I think getting that first shift out of the way just to get the excitement to come down a little bit."

Kings coach Terry Murray wasn't concerned about integrating two new players. He saw Fraser play when both were in Philadelphia's organization.

"A player has to get started at some time," Murray said. "You could wait and just practice and get to another game, I suppose. But it happens to be Vancouver, who he would have played against many times coming from Chicago … I don't think with his kind of a game I'm overly concerned with the high-end skill level. I'm looking at a very intense player that's going to play a great game, go to the net and get on the forecheck.

"I know he's been a bit of a caged animal here looking forward to getting the opportunity."

Here are the projected lineups for tonight's game between the New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center:

ISLANDERS
Matt Moulson - John Tavares - Michael Grabner
Brian Rolston - Frans Nielsen - P.A. Parenteau
Blake Comeau - Marty Reasoner - Kyle Okposo
Matt Martin - Josh Bailey - Jay Pandolfo

Mark Streit - Steve Staios
Andrew MacDonald - Travis Hamonic
Mark Eaton - Milan Jurcina

Al Montoya will start in goal, with Rick DiPietro the backup.

AVALANCHE
Joakim Lindstrom - Paul Stastny - Milan Hejduk
Kevin Porter - Matt Duchene - David Jones
Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Daniel Winnik
Cody McLeod - T.J. Galiardi - Chuck Kobasew

Jan Hejda - Erik Johnson
Shane O'Brien - Kyle Quincey
Ryan Wilson - Ryan O'Byrne

Jean-Sebastien Giguere will start in goal, with Semyon Varlamov the backup.

For more on tonight's game, check out the preview here.
     
 

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Trent Hunter was a good story for the Kings when he parlayed a pro tryout contract into a late free agent signing in training camp until coach Terry Murray scratched him in six of the first nine games.

But L.A. has struggled mightily to get offense outside of the top line, and Hunter was a two-time 20-goal scorer for the New York Islanders.

"Quite simply, we're looking to get some scoring going here," Murray said.

Hunter has only played five games this season, but feels better equipped for more action. He'll play with Jarret Stoll and Kyle Clifford on the third line.

"The more you spend around the guys, the more comfortable you get for sure," Hunter said. "That would be the biggest thing for myself. I'm just going to focus on my game and just play within yourself."

The insertion of Hunter and Colin Fraser comes at the expense of grinder Brad Richardson, who is expected to be scratched for the first time this season.

"Brad right now is not finding the back of the net," Murray said. "He's bringing everything else that we want. He's intense. He's enthusiastic. He recovers pucks. He's giving us good penalty kills … it's just the need for some offense right now."

Here are what the lineups could look like when the Vancouver Canucks face the Los Angeles Kings tonight at Staples Center:

CANUCKS
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Jannik Hansen
Chris Higgins - Ryan Kesler - Andrew Ebbett
David Booth - Maxim Lapierre - Cody Hodgson
Andrew Ebbett - Manny Malhotra - Dale Weise

Dan Hamhuis - Sami Salo
Alex Edler - Kevin Bieksa
Keith Ballard - Aaron Rome

Roberto Luongo
Cory Schneider

KINGS
Simon Gagne - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
Dustin Penner - Mike Richards - Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford - Jarret Stoll - Trent Hunter
Trevor Lewis - Colin Fraser - Ethan Moreau

Drew Doughty - Willie Mitchell
Jack Johnson - Rob Scuderi
Matt Greene - Alec Martinez

Jonathan Quick
Jonathan Bernier

DETROIT -- Todd Bertuzzi will likely miss the next two games this weekend for the Detroit Red Wings with lingering dizziness and a sinus infection that have kept him out of two games and away from Joe Louis Arena for almost a week.

Bertuzzi was back in the building for Thursday's practice, but only lasted for about half of it before coming off the ice early. He said the problem started after getting hit in the face with a stick on Oct. 29 at Minnesota.

He played the next two games, both Red Wings' losses against the Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames, before leaving the lineup because of the illness.

"It just kept getting worse and worse and I felt light-headed and dizzy and just didn't feel like myself," said Bertuzzi, who has 1 goal and 2 assists in 11 games. "Then I got a sinus infection and went and got my ears checked and had a little swelling in there. Now, (I'm) just on some pills trying to get the swelling down."

Detroit plays host to the Western Conference's top two teams -- the red-hot Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars -- in a rare home back-to-back occurrence on the schedule. Asked if he might be able to play in either game, Bertuzzi pretty much ruled it out.

"No, not the way I felt today … no," he said. "I don't know. (It's) day by day. In three or four days, hopefully the medication should kick in and (I'll) hopefully get my balance and stuff back."

At least his sense of humor is still intact. Asked if he'd lost any weight during his bout with the sinus infection, Bertuzzi hunched his shoulders.

"I don't know … if I say, 'Yeah,' then it looks bad on my wife for not cooking right," he said, smiling.

Taking Bertuzzi's place on the roster the past two games has been 26-year old Fabian Brunnstrom, who's played right wing on the fourth line while Tomas Holmstrom moved back into the top six forward to replace Bertuzzi.