Avalanche at Panthers preview
MacKinnon game-time decision for Colorado; Dadonov looks to extend goal streak for Florida
by Alain Poupart / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
AVALANCHE (5-0-1) at PANTHERS (2-2-2)
7 p.m. ET; FS-F, ALT, NHL.TV
The Game
Nathan MacKinnon will be a game-time decision for the Colorado Avalanche against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center on Friday.
MacKinnon, who sustained a leg injury during a 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, did not take part in the morning skate.
Colorado will be looking to extend its season-opening point streak to seven games. The Avalanche won their first five games before losing against the Penguins. Colorado is the only team without a regulation loss.
The Panthers are home after going 1-0-2 on a three-game road trip. They ended a three-game losing streak when they rallied from down 4-1 for a 6-4 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Monday.
Players to watch
Avalanche rookie defenseman Cale Makar has six assists in six games. He had a chance to become the second NHL defenseman to begin his regular-season career with a six-game point streak but was held without a point against the Penguins.
Panthers forward Evgenii Dadonov has a four-game goal streak and seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past four games.
They said it
"His leg is pretty sore. He got hit there the other night by (Penguins forward Patric) Hornqvist. I give him a lot of credit. I know he was hurting on the bench the whole game and he battled through and ends up getting us a big goal in the third period, has a really good third period for us." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on forward Nathan MacKinnon
"Finding that consistency and having the puck a little bit more from start to finish, we'd like to find out how good we could be." -- Panthers coach Joel Quenneville
Avalanche projected lineup
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Joonas Donskoi -- Nazem Kadri -- Andre Burakovsky
Colin Wilson -- Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher
Matt Calvert -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Matt Nieto
Erik Johnson -- Samuel Girard
Cale Makar -- Ian Cole
Ryan Graves -- Nikita Zadorov
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz
Scratched: Kevin Connauton, Vladislav Kamenev, Mark Barberio, Valeri Nichushkin
Injured: None
Panthers projected lineup
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mike Hoffman -- Vincent Trocheck -- Brett Connolly
Frank Vatrano -- Henrik Borgstrom -- Denis Malgin
Dryden Hunt -- Noel Acciari -- Colton Sceviour
Mike Matheson -- Aaron Ekblad
MacKenzie Weegar -- Anton Stralman
Keith Yandle -- Josh Brown
Sergei Bobrovsky
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: Jayce Hawryluk, Mark Pysyk
Injured: None
Status report
Bednar said Kadri would center the top line if MacKinnon doesn't play and Compher would move up to the second line. … Zadorov will be back in the lineup after being scratched against the Penguins. … Quenneville said there could be lineup changes but did not specify.
Stat pack
Colorado's 42 hits against Pittsburgh were the most the Avalanche have had in a game since they had 42 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 11, 2016. … Huberdeau has six points (one goal, five assists) during a five-game point streak. … Florida leads the NHL with 38.2 shots per game.