Hurricanes at Avalanche preview

HURRICANES (21-11-2) at AVALANCHE (22-9-3)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-CR, NHL.TV

The Hurricanes defeated the Winnipeg Jets 6-3 on Tuesday and have gone 5-0-1 in their past six games and 6-1-1 in their past eight. They're 3-0-1 in the first four games of a five-game road trip.
The Avalanche defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Wednesday. They're 9-1-1 in their past 11 games and 3-0-1 in their past four at home.

Players to watch

Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past five games.
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has eight points (three goals, five assists) in a six-game point streak and 26 (10 goals, 16 assists) in his past 15 games.

They said it

"This is a tough game because we've been on the road for a long time. Obviously, the guys have played well. I'm sure everyone is anxious to get home, but we have to put that all on the back seat. We're probably playing the best team on this trip. Hopefully we answer the bell."-- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour
"What I've gotten out of a lot of our injuries is that other guys have elevated their games and proven at times that they can handle more (responsibility), that they deserve more. That's one of the positives that's come out of it." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Hurricanes projected lineup

Andrei Svechnikov -- Jordan Staal -- Warren Foegele
Nino Niederreiter -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Ryan Dzingel -- Lucas Wallmark -- Martin Necas
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Martinook - Brian Gibbons
Jaccob Slavin -- Dougie Hamilton
Joel Edmundson -- Brett Pesce
Jake Gardiner -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
James Reimer
Petr Mrazek
Scratched: Haydn Fleury
Injured:Erik Haula (knee)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Andrei Burakovsky -- Nazem Kadri -- Joonas Donskoi
Valeri Nichushkin -- Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Matt Calvert
Ryan Graves -- Samuel Girard
Nikita Zadorov -- Ian Cole
Anton Lindholm -- Mark Barberio
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz
Scratched:Vladislav Kamenev, Calle Rosen
Injured:Erik Johnson (lower body), Cale Makar (upper body), Colin Wilson (lower body)

Status report

The Avalanche didn't have a morning skate, but Bednar said Wednesday that Johnson might play. He has missed 11 games since Nov. 23 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. … No return date is set for Makar, who has missed five games since he was injured against the Boston Bruins on Dec. 7.

Stat pack

Hamilton needs one assist for 200 in the NHL. … Rantanen has six points (four goals, two assists) in a four-game streak.