At the Rink: Avalanche at Jets

WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets lineup will have a new look when they host the Colorado Avalanche at MTS Centre on Monday (8 p.m. ET; ALT, TSN3).

Winnipeg forward JC Lipon will make his NHL debut after being recalled with center Patrice Cormier from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Sunday. Upper-body injuries to forwards Adam Lowry and Drew Stafford, who are on injured reserved retroactive to Jan. 14, necessitated the move.

Lipon, 22, had eight goals and nine assists in 30 games with Manitoba. Cormier, who is not expected to dress, played one game with the Jets earlier this season and has six goals and six assists in 34 AHL games.

"Obviously I'm a little nervous, but it's a good nervousness," said Lipon, whose parents and grandparents will be making the trip from neighboring Saskatchewan.

Lipon, selected in the third round (No. 91) by Winnipeg in the 2013 NHL Draft, will play left wing on Winnipeg's fourth line with center Andrew Copp and right wing Anthony Peluso.

"[Lipon] has lots and lots of energy on the puck," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "He doesn't get to the dark areas late. He plays hard, goes to the net hard, kind of the game that we're really trying to play now and need to play. He has earned it."

Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is expected to start for the 16th time in the past 18 games after shutting out the Minnesota Wild 1-0 on Jan. 15.

Avalanche coach Patrick Roy will turn to goaltender Semyon Varlamov after Calvin Pickard started the past two games. Roy will use the same lineup he used in a 2-0 loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets this past Saturday.

Winnipeg pulled back into Stanley Cup Playoff contention with two consecutive wins this past week and enters the game three points out of the final wild card spot in the West, which is occupied by the Nashville Predators. The Avalanche are one point behind the Predators. Winnipeg has two games in hand on Colorado.

"We're close to a (playoff) spot," Roy said. "I'm not saying we're happy to be there. We'd like to be in the playoffs, but with the start that we had, we feel that we have been playing some good hockey lately.

"They've been doing a good job. They believe in our structure. They believe in what we're doing, and we seem to be a very positive group."

After a 9-3-2 record in December, the Avalanche have lost three of their past four games. They play four games this week, three against Central Division opponents.

Avalanche center Matt Duchene credits a better mindset for the recent success.

"I think our focus and our assertiveness for 60 minutes [has improved]," Duchene said. "I find that when we're on our toes, we're confident and know when to make the simple play and when to have poise and hold on to the puck, that's when we're at our best."

Here are the projected lineups:

AVALANCHE

Alex Tanguay - Nathan MacKinnon - Matt Duchene

Gabriel Landeskog - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau

Andreas Martinsen - Chris Wagner - Jarome Iginla

Cody McLeod - John Mitchell - Jack Skille

Francois Beauchemin - Nikita Zadorov

Nick Holden - Tyson Barrie

Zach Redmond - Chris Bigras

Semyon Varlamov

Calvin Pickard

Injured: Reto Berra (ankle), Erik Johnson (lower body), Ben Street (chest), Brad Stuart (back), Jesse Winchester (head)

Scratched: Andrew Bodnarchuk, Mikhail Grigorenko, Nate Guenin

JETS

Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Blake Wheeler

Joel Armia - Mathieu Perreault - Nikolaj Ehlers

Chris Thorburn - Alexander Burmistrov - Matt Halischuk

JC Lipon - Andrew Copp - Anthony Peluso

Jacob Trouba - Dustin Byfuglien

Toby Enstrom - Tyler Myers

Mark Stuart - Ben Chiarot

Connor Hellebuyck

Michael Hutchinson

Injured: Grant Clitsome (back), Adam Lowry (upper body), Ondrej Pavelec (knee), Mark Scheifele (lower body), Drew Stafford (upper body)

Scratched: Patrice Cormier, Adam Pardy

Status report: Bodnarchuk, Grigorenko and Guenin each will be a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game. … Winnipeg placed Lowry and Stafford on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 14.

Who's hot: Duchene has three goals and an assist in his past four games. … The Colorado penalty kill has killed 10 consecutive opposing power plays in the past three games. … Wheeler has three goals in his past four games. … Little has a goal and two assists in his past two games; in his past 10 games, he has a goal and eight assists.