At the Rink: Avalanche at Stars

DALLAS -- Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson will return to the lineup Saturday against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center (8 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-SW).

Johnson, who missed the past nine games with a lower-body injury, will play for the first time since Jan. 4. He was one of five players to take the ice Saturday morning as the Avalanche didn't hold a full skate after defeating the St. Louis Blues 2-1 at Pepsi Center on Friday.

The Stars are looking to reverse their recent fortunes against the Avalanche, having lost 10 of 11 (1-7-3) against them under coach Lindy Ruff.

"I think their goalie has had our number a little bit on some occasions where we've totally dominated games and haven't put it away. There was a couple of games we let them back into the game late where it looked like they weren't going to get into it," Ruff said of the Stars' struggles against the Avalanche.

Dallas (30-13-5) defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Thursday, ending a four-game losing streak.

Ruff made the morning skate Saturday optional, but employed the same forward lines and defensive pairs at practice Friday as in the win against Edmonton.

That means rookie defenseman Esa Lindell, who made his NHL debut Tuesday at the Los Angeles Kings, will play in his third career game in Dallas' third pair alongside Jyrki Jokipakka.

"Yeah, he's played well," Ruff said of Lindell. "I think the second game, I thought he was even more comfortable. I thought that pair (Lindell and Jokipakka) had a good night for us. He's got a good stick, he's got good awareness. I thought inside his own end he played well."

Goalie Antti Niemi was first off the ice and will start a second consecutive game for the Stars.

Goalie Semyon Varlamov will start for the Avalanche.

Here are the projected lineups:

AVALANCHE

Alex Tanguay – Nathan MacKinnon – Matt Duchene

Gabriel Landeskog – Carl Soderberg – Blake Comeau

Andreas Martinsen – Mikhail Grigorenko – Jarome Iginla

Cody McLeod – John Mitchell – Jack Skille

Francois Beauchemin – Erik Johnson

Nick Holden – Tyson Barrie

Zach Redmond – Chris Bigras

Semyon Varlamov

Calvin Pickard

Injured: Reto Berra (ankle), Ben Street (chest), Mark Stuart (back), Jesse Winchester (head)

Scratched: Andrew Bodnarchuk, Nate Guenin, Chris Wagner

STARS

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Sharp

Valeri Nichushkin – Cody Eakin – Jason Spezza

Antoine Roussel – Mattias Janmark – Ales Hemsky

Colton Sceviour – Vernon Fiddler – Patrick Eaves

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg

Johnny Oduya – Jason Demers

Esa Lindell – Jyrki Jokipakka

Antti Niemi

Kari Lehtonen

Injured: Jordie Benn (lower body)

Scratched: Travis Moen, Patrik Nemeth

Status report: Comeau is expected to be back after he missed the St. Louis game for the birth of his second child.

Who's hot: Colorado is 15 of 16 on the penalty kill over its past six games. … The Avalanche are 16-7-2 since Dec. 1, 2015 and currently hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. … Duchene leads the Avalanche with 22 goals and is tied with MacKinnon for the team lead with 39 points. … Dallas is 10-2-0 in its past 12 home games, outscoring its opposition 40-20. … The Stars are 8-3-1 against the Central Division. … Spezza has points in four of his past five games against Colorado and has nine points (five goals) in 15 games against the Avalanche. … Dallas has points in 10 of its past 13 home games against Colorado (6-3-4).