Avalanche at Ducks preview

AVALANCHE (34-18-7) at DUCKS (24-29-7)
10 p.m. ET; PRIME, ALT2, NHL.TV

The Avalanche are in third place in the Central Division, one point behind the Dallas Stars, who host the first-place St. Louis Blues on Friday. Colorado is 9-3-1 in its past 13 games including four straight wins on the road.
The Ducks are 2-3-2 in their past seven games following a 5-2-0 stretch. Anaheim has been outscored 10-1 in its past two home games, and has one win in eight regulation at Honda Center since Dec. 27.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in his past five games, including four multi-point games.
Ducks forward Adam Henrique has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past six games and had a goal in a 5-2 win in Colorado on Oct. 26.

They said it

"You love competition. Nobody's in this game if you don't like it. Obviously, we're all close to the top (of the standings) there, and it's going to just depend on who separates themselves in this next little bit." -- Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar
"We're in a little bit of a tough spot, but we've got to keep pushing. I think we've been playing well the last few games here, the last few weeks, just got to keep building and stay positive. ... At the end of the day, it's about learning and growing. When you lose, you learn." -- Ducks defenseman Korbinian Holzer

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Ducks projected lineup

Max Jones -- Ryan Getzlaf -- Rickard Rakell
Devin Shore -- Sam Steel -- Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie -- Adam Henrique -- Troy Terry
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Derek Grant -- Carter Rowney
Hampus Lindholm -- Josh Manson
Brendan Guhle -- Michael Del Zotto
Jacob Larsson -- Korbinian Holzer
John Gibson
Ryan Miller
Scratched: None
Injured:Cam Fowler (lower body), Erik Gudbranson (upper body)

Status report

The Avalanche recalled Dries from Colorado of the American Hockey League on Thursday and sent forward T.J. Tynan down. ... Francouz, who signed a two-year contract on Friday, will start his third straight game following the injury to Grubauer against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. No decision has been made on the starting goalie against the Kings on Saturday, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. Grubauer is day-to-day. ... The Ducks traded forward Ondrej Kase to the Boston Bruins on Friday for forward
David Backes
, defenseman prospect
Axel Andersson
and a first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. Kase hadn't played since Feb. 7 because of an illness. ... Fowler, a defenseman, did not practice on Thursday and will miss his second consecutive game.

Stat pack

MacKinnon has 298 assists in his NHL career, tied with Paul Stastny for ninth in Quebec Nordiques/Avalanche history and fifth in Avalanche history. ... Lindholm will play his 500th NHL game.