Avalanche at Predators preview

AVALANCHE (9-7-1) at PREDATORS (10-6-2)
8 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-TN, NHL.TV

Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard will face his former team for the first time since he was traded to the Avalanche by the Predators on Nov. 5. Nashville acquired center Kyle Turris from the Ottawa Senators in the same deal that sent Girard to Colorado.
The Avalanche are 1-2-1 in their past four games; forward Gabriel Landeskog had his first NHL hat trick in a 6-2 win against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
The Predators are 5-1-0 in their past six games and are 5-1-1 at home this season. They have won seven consecutive games against Colorado.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in his past seven games, including five points (one goal, four assists) against the Capitals.
Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games. Forward Filip Forsberg has five points (one goal, four assists) in a three-game point streak.

They said it

"That's what we want when we're hockey players. We want to play. We want to be on the ice. We want to help the team to win, so I'm pretty happy to have a lot of ice time here and to help the team to win." -- Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard
"Just play a complete game. We've had some really strong periods where we feel we're at the top of our games and have little letdowns after that. We just don't want to put it in cruise control at all. We want to play hard the entire night, and I think we'll like the result if we do that." -- Predators forward Colton Sissons

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Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Colin Wilson -- Alexander Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Sven Andrighetto -- Dominic Toninato -- Nail Yakupov
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Andrei Mironov -- Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov -- Mark Barberio
Semyon Varlamov
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched: Gabriel Bourque, Chris Bigras
Injured: Anton Lindholm (broken jaw), Patrik Nemeth (lower body), Tyson Jost (lower body), Vladislav Kamenev (broken arm)

Predators projected lineup

Filip Forsberg -- Ryan Johansen -- Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala -- Kyle Turris -- Craig Smith
Miikka Salomaki -- Calle Jarnkrok -- Colton Sissons
Cody McLeod -- Nick Bonino -- Austin Watson
Roman Josi -- Mattias Ekholm
Alexei Emelin -- P.K. Subban
Matt Irwin -- Anthony Bitetto
Pekka Rinne
Anders Lindback
Scratched: None
Injured:Scott Hartnell (lower body), Yannick Weber (lower body), Ryan Ellis (knee)

Status report

Toninato will replace Kamenev on the fourth line between Andrighetto and Yakupov. … The Predators held an optional morning skate.

Stat pack

MacKinnon has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 17 games against the Predators. Kerfoot has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past five games. … Johansen scored his first goal of the season in a 6-4 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.