Avalanche at Golden Knights preview

AVALANCHE (19-12-6) at GOLDEN KNIGHTS (20-15-4)
10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, ALT, NHL.TV

Vegas has lost two straight games in overtime after winning its previous six at home. Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to start in net for Vegas. He is one win from 50 with the Golden Knights.
Colorado looks to win for the first time in three games and for the third time in its past nine games (2-5-1). Goalie Philipp Grubauer will make his fourth straight start.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen, the NHL leader in points (59), has 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists) in his past 18 games.
Golden Knights forward Brandon Pirri has a three-game point streak (three goals, one assist). He was recalled from Chicago of the AHL on Thursday.

They said it

"Those guys have been so great. They were a big reason why they went to the Final. They're an explosive line, and it's going to be tough for us tonight."-- Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon on Vegas' first line
"They've got a lot of unique skill sets. It'll be a tough challenge, it'll be a fun challenge. These games are fun for myself. It's a lot of fun trying to go out there and do a job against them."-- Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb on defending Colorado's first line

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost -- Alex Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
Sven Andrighetto -- Sheldon Dries -- Gabriel Bourque
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Ryan Graves
-- Patrik Nemeth
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched: None
Injured: Mark Barberio (upper body), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Nikita Zadorov (lower body), Colin Wilson (upper body)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Brandon Pirri -- Paul Stastny -- Alex Tuch
Oscar Lindberg -- Cody Eakin -- Tomas Nosek
William Carrier -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Jon Merrill -- Nick Holden
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched:Ryan Carpenter, Brad Hunt
Injured:Max Pacioretty (undisclosed), Colin Miller (undisclosed) Erik Haula (lower body)

Status report

Graves was recalled from Colorado of the American Hockey League, his first NHL call-up. He will be paired with Nemeth. … Zadorov skated on his own Wednesday but it "did not go well," according to Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. … Smith rejoined the top line for Vegas at the morning skate and is expected to play with Marchessault and Karlsson.

Stat pack

MacKinnon has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in nine games. … Landeskog has 15 points (nine goals, six assists) in 11 games. … Smith has nine points (four goals, five assists) in 10 games. … Tuch has one assist in four games after scoring five points (four goals, one assist) in the previous six games.