Morning Skate Report: NHL's Best Lines Face Off

It is like a matchup of two heavyweight fighters, but in this instance it will be the Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins' best lines squaring off.
It is hard to argue the best trios in the NHL in the first six weeks of the season aren't Colorado's top unit of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen and Boston's No. 1 group of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. The threesomes are among the league leaders in scoring and will see plenty of each other tonight in a cross-conference showdown at Pepsi Center.
"It's always a challenge, I like challenges," MacKinnon said. "Whenever a top line comes to town and the top players in the NHL, it's always fun. It's our responsibility to play against those guys, and it's going to be a tough one tonight."

Four of the six players rank in the top five in the NHL in scoring and all of them are within seven points of each other inside the top 25.
Rantanen presently shares the league lead with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists), while MacKinnon is fourth with 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists). Landeskog ranks seventh in the NHL with 11 goals and has 19 total points this season.
Pastrnak, the reigning NHL First Star of the week, has the most goals in the league with 16 and shares fifth place in overall points with 23. Bergeron is third place among all skaters in scoring and one point behind Rantanen with 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists). Marchand has six goals and 14 assists this year and is coming off consecutive 85-point campaigns.
"I think every time you go up against top players in the league, it's a lot of respect," MacKinnon said. "Those guys have been doing it for a long time. I guess Pastrnak is new, a few years in the league, but Bergeron and Marchand, they won a Cup together, they're two hall of famers."

Colorado has the last change with it being the home team, and head coach Jared Bednar said his top unit will likely go against Boston's best.
"It's certainly a big component of the game. Your best players have to be your best players on a nightly basis in order to win," Bednar said. "We rely on our guys heavily. They rely on their guys heavily. They'll play against each other for most of the night, I'm sure."
Playing against the other club's top players isn't anything new through the early parts of the season and is something the Avs skaters look forward to. Bednar often pits his No. 1 group against the other team's best and trusts them to get the job done.
"It is something that we have to embrace and something that we have to get better at in all areas of the game," Landeskog said. "I think for us as a line to be defensively reliable, I think that is important. We got to lead the way and show the rest of the team that we're willing to pay the price defensively or offensively."

Colorado's line has done just that as the threesome has combined for 28 goals and 69 points after 17 games. It is the most points among any three teammates in the NHL, and one more than that of Boston's Bergeron-Pastrnak-Marchand line (68).
Only one other season since the 1996-97 NHL campaign has featured at least one threesome from multiple teams combine for 68 or more points through 17 games and that was in 2005-06 with three clubs. That year saw the Ottawa Senators (Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza; 94), Philadelphia Flyers (Peter Forsberg, Simon Gagne, Joni Pitkanen; 80) and Atlanta Thrashers (Marc Savard, Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk; 68) each have at least one set of teammates registering 68 or more points.
The last time the Avalanche franchise had three players with 69 total points after 17 outings was in the club's inaugural season in Denver in 1995-96 when Joe Sakic, Valeri Kamensky and Peter Forsberg combined for that amount.

The six players in tonight's lineups have combined for 59 goals this year, but it will likely take more than both club's top units to decide a victor. Bednar said he needs contributions throughout his roster if the Avs are going to beat the 10-5-2 Bruins, who have won three of their last four games.
"It is not our line against their line. It's the Colorado Avalanche against the Boston Bruins. Everyone else has a factor in the game as well," Bednar said. "There are a bunch of matchups that we want to win, and that just happens to be one of them. The amount that both of those lines play, 20-plus minutes a night, they'll be on the ice a lot."

BLUE LINE SCORING

The Avalanche defensemen have scored a goal in three of the last four games and have tallied six times in the last seven outings. Six of the seven blueliners have found the back of the net this year, and they have contributed four of the team's last 12 goals.
"We were generating opportunities early in the year, they just weren't going into the back of the net," said defenseman Erik Johnson. "A lot of it is an inch there, a bounce there. We've been creating opportunities for the team throughout the course of the season, but it's been nice to see it go in."

Tyson Barrie leads all Avs D-men in scoring with 14 points (one goal and 13 assists). He recorded a goal and an assist on Sunday at the Edmonton Oilers for his 200th assist and 62nd goal of his career--with the latter of which tying Rob Blake for third place on the franchise's defensemen goal-scoring list.

ROSTER NOTES

Semyon Varlamov will make his fourth consecutive start in net for the Avalanche. He is coming off a 26-save performance in a 4-1 win on Sunday at the Edmonton Oilers.
Forward Marko Dano and defenseman Patrik Nemeth will be Colorado's healthy scratches.
Injured forwards Sven Andrighetto and J.T. Compher both participated in the Avs' morning skate and are progressing from their ailments.
Andrighetto, who has missed the last five games with a lower-body injury, was a full participant, while Compher (head) took part in the entire session while wearing a non-contact sweater.
"He's been feeling better," Bednar said of Compher. "He skated with the group today in a red (non-contact jersey). We're hoping to get him into a contact practice soon. He's not available obviously for tonight, probably not Friday, but hopefully after that he will come on the road trip and could possibly play for us."

VIEW: Avalanche Projected Lineup vs. Bruins