Avalanche at Bruins preview

AVALANCHE (22-22-10) at BRUINS (30-17-8)
3 p.m. ET; SN1, TVAS, NESN, ALT, NHL.TV

The Bruins are 3-0-3 in their past six games after they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 in overtime Saturday.
The Avalanche will try to avoid their seventh straight loss. After losing 4-3 in overtime at the New York Islanders on Saturday, the Avalanche are 0-4-2 in their past six games, their longest losing streak of the season.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 18 games.
Bruins forward David Pastrnak has four goals and seven assists during a seven-game point streak.

They said it

"I think the positive that we can take away is that this game [on Saturday] … the way that [the New York Islanders] play forced us to battle, forced us to get back to our defensive mindset and to play hard in the 1-on-1 battles. I think we just need to carry that work ethic into the next game." -- Avalanche forward Colin Wilson
"I think it's going well, but I think we can still play a little better, obviously tighten up a few things. A lot of it is sometimes self-inflicted, and if we rectify that, it's going to be a lot easier, bottom line." -- Bruins center Patrice Bergeron on their six-game point streak

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
Alexander Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson
A.J. Greer -- Sheldon Dries -- Sven Andrighetto
Erik Johnson -- Samuel Girard
Nikita Zadorov -- Ryan Graves
Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched: Gabriel Bourque, Anton Lindholm
Injured:Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Mark Barberio (head), Ian Cole (upper body)

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Danton Heinen
Peter Cehlarik -- David Krejci -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- Sean Kuraly -- Chris Wagner
Joakim Nordstrom -- Noel Acciari -- David Backes
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- Kevan Miller
John Moore -- Brandon Carlo
Jaroslav Halak
Tuukka Rask
Scratched: Trent Frederic, Steven Kampfer
Injured: Matt Grzelcyk (lower body)

Status report

Grubauer likely will start for the Avalanche after Varlamov made 37 saves in the loss to the Islanders. … Halak will start for the Bruins and look to end his personal five-game losing streak (0-3-2).

Stat pack

Rantanen, who has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in the past 13 games, needs three points for 200 in his NHL career. … Bergeron has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past eight games.