Preview: Avalanche at Wild

AVALANCHE (11-18-1) at WILD (18-8-4)
8 p.m. ET; FS-N, ALT2, NHL.TV

Avalanche team scope

Goaltender Semyon Varlamov is expected to start for the Colorado Avalanche after missing three games with a groin injury. Varlamov is 6-12-0 with a 3.21 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in 19 games (18 starts). He made 51 saves in his last start, a 3-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 11. Forward Joe Colborne returns after missing three games with a lower-body injury. "I'm feeling good out there, healthy and ready to go," Colborne said. "There's nothing worse than being on the sidelines and having to watch our team go. Obviously we're not where we want to be right now but just having an opportunity to be back and be a part of turning this thing around is going to be huge for me." Colorado has lost three straight and is 2-8-1 in its past 11 games but 2-0-0 against the Minnesota Wild this season. "We know what we're facing here tonight," coach Jared Bednar said. "This is one of the top teams in our division and for whatever reason we played well against them… I think it's a mindset for our group."

Wild team scope

Forward Pat Cannone, 30, will make his NHL debut when the Wild go for their eighth straight win. Cannone has four goals and 16 points with Iowa of the American Hockey League this season and 84 goals and 135 assists in 377 AHL games. "[I'm] just trying to treat it as another game, another day, even though it's a little bit different," he said. "[I'm] just looking forward to it and looking forward to trying help the team win." Coach Bruce Boudreau said Cannone earned the call-up after playing well in Iowa and stressed that age has little factor when deciding which player to recall. "It'll make everybody in Iowa better knowing they all have opportunities to play in the NHL if they play well," Boudreau said. Minnesota is 11-3-0 at Xcel Energy Center, including six straight wins while outscoring opponents 23-8. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk will start. Dubnyk is 6-0-0 with nine goals allowed in his past six starts and leads the League with a 1.62 GAA and .947 save percentage.

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Rene Bourque
Jarome Iginla -- Matt Duchene -- Mikko Rantanen
Mikhail Grigorenko -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Cody McLeod -- John Mitchell -- Joe Colborne
Fedor Tyutin -- Tyson Barrie
Francois Beauchemin -- Patrick Wiercioch
Nikita Zadorov -- Eric Gelinas
Semyon Varlamov
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Cody Goloubef, Andreas Martinsen
Injured:None

Wild projected lineup

Zach Parise -- Eric Staal -- Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Nino Niederreiter -- Tyler Graovac -- Charlie Coyle
Chris Stewart -- Pat Cannone -- Kurtis Gabriel
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
Marco Scandella -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched:Christian Folin
Injured:Victor Bartley (arm), Erik Haula (lower body)

Status report

Haula is day to day after he was injured against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday and likely won't return until after the Christmas break.

Who's hot

Duchene has two goals and three assists in a four-game point streak. … Staal has four goals and two assists in a four-game point streak. … Parise has a goal and three assists in a four-game point streak. … Coyle has a goal and three assists in a three-game point streak.