Avalanche at Wild preview

AVALANCHE (7-2-2) at WILD (5-2-2)
8 p.m. ET; FS-N, ALT, NHL.TV

The line combined for 10 points in the Avalanche's come-from-behind 6-3 win against the Ottawa Senators at Pepsi Center on Friday. Landeskog (nine goals, six assists), MacKinnon (nine goals, nine assists) and Rantanen (five goals, 15 assists) have produced 53 points (23 goals, 30 assists) this season.
Colorado, which entered Saturday tied with the Nashville Predators for most points in the NHL (16), is 4-1-0 in the past five games, outscoring opponents 18-9.
The Wild have won four straight after a 1-2-2 start, outscoring opponents 14-7. Forward Joel Eriksson Ek is expected to return after missing six games with a lower-body injury.

Players to watch

Rantanen leads the NHL with 20 points in 11 games, including points in 10 of 11 games.
Wild forward Mikael Granlund has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a six-game point streak.

They said it

"This is a real tough game schedule-wise. … [the Wild] are sitting and waiting for us and we're at the end of one of the busiest stretches of the year. ... It' s a rivalry game for us. We know there's no love lost with [Minnesota] and us, so hopefully we can push through one more." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"Right now, when you look at [Colorado], they've got a No. 1 overall (MacKinnon), a No. 2 overall (Landeskog) and a No. [10] overall (Rantanen) ... that doesn't happen very often. We're hoping to contain them. If we contain this line, we'll have some success." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Sven Andrighetto -- Alex Kerfoot -- Marko Dano
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
Tyson Jost -- Vladislav Kamenev -- Colin Wilson
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov -- Patrik Nemeth
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Mark Barberio, Gabriel Bourque
Injured:J.T. Compher (head)

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Nino Niederreiter
Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Joel Eriksson Ek -- Charlie Coyle --
Matt Read
Marcus Foligno -- Eric Fehr -- JT Brown
Ryan Suter -- Mathew Dumba
Jonas Brodin -- Jared Spurgeon
Nick Seeler -- Greg Pateryn
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched: Nate Prosser
Injured: Matt Hendricks (lower body)

Status report

Colorado did not skate. …Wild forward Jordan Greenway was sent to Iowa of the American Hockey League on Friday. … Hendricks skated on Friday and Saturday; his return date is unclear.

Stat pack

Parise has four points (two goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak and 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his past seven games. … Dubnyk is 3-0-0 with 1.00 goals against average and .967 save percentage in his past three starts.