Avalanche at Hurricanes preview

AVALANCHE (29-20-4) at HURRICANES (25-21-9)
8 p.m. ET; ALT2, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Goaltender Semyon Varlamov will start for the Avalanche, who trail the Minnesota Wild by two points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. Colorado is 2-4-1 in its past seven games following a 10-game winning streak.
Varlamov made 57 saves in a 5-3 win against Carolina on Nov. 2.
Goaltender Cam Ward is expected to start for the Hurricanes, who are one point behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Carolina ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, and is 6-8-1 in its past 15 games.

Players to watch

Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past seven games.
Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has three assists in his past six games after having 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his previous eight games.

They said it

"We've had a little trouble on the road, so we're trying to focus on getting to our game for a full 60 minutes. … At home, the get-up-and-go has been noticeable. On the road, we haven't found a way to replicate that for 60 minutes." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"Our starts have to be better, no matter if we're playing a team on a back-to-back or straight up. … Colorado has us back-to-back [Sunday], but our starts could be better in every situation. I think they will be. I think the guys understand the importance of a good start and playing with the lead." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Alex Kerfoot -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson
Gabriel Bourque -- Dominic Toninato -- Nail Yakupov
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie
Samuel Girard -- Anton Lindholm
Semyon Varlamov
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched:A.J. Greer, Andrei Mironov
Injured:Nathan MacKinnon (upper body), Sven Andrighetto (lower body), Mark Barberio (lower body), Vladislav Kamenev (arm)

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Victor Rask -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Elias Lindholm -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Scratched: Haydn Fleury
Injured: None

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate Saturday. ... The Hurricanes sent forwards Markus Kruger and Josh Jooris to Charlotte of the American Hockey League after each cleared waivers Friday.

Stat pack

Colorado's 10 road wins are the second-fewest in the Western Conference. The Arizona Coyotes have seven. … The Hurricanes are 21-7-4 when scoring first. … Carolina is 4-5-1 in second halves of back-to-back games this season.