Preview: Avalanche at Wild

AVALANCHE (21-53-3) at WILD (45-25-8)
6 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-N, NHL.TV

Avalanche team scope

The Colorado Avalanche will try to win their second game in three days after defeating the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in a shootout Friday. The Avalanche, 1-7-0 in their past eight games and 4-13-0 in their past 17, play Stanley Cup Playoff teams in four of their next five games (the Minnesota Wild twice, the Chicago Blackhawks once, St. Louis once). "Obviously, we all hate losing," forward Sven Andrighetto, who has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games, told the Denver Post earlier this week. "But as the season has turned out, it is what it is. We'll keep moving forward. As an individual, it's always tough to stand out if the team isn't doing well. But everyone has something to play for, that's for sure.''

Wild team scope

The Minnesota Wild can't win the Central Division after a 3-0 loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday. Minnesota is seven points ahead of the Blues and Predators for second place. The Wild are 2-8-2 in their past 12 games. "We've got to come to play every game," coach Bruce Boudreau said Saturday. "We can't be satisfied with a 5-1 victory once a week." Wild forward Jason Zucker, who has 46 points (21 goals, 25 assists) in 77 games, will be a game-time decision; he did not play Saturday. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk is expected to start after backup Alex Stalock made 33 saves Saturday.

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Matt Duchene -- Blake Comeau
Sven Andrighetto -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Tyson Jost -- Rene Bourque
John Mitchell -- Carl Soderberg -- J.T. Compher
Mark Barberio -- Erik Johnson
Fedor Tyutin -- Tyson Barrie
Francois Beauchemin -- Anton Lindholm
Calvin Pickard
Jeremy Smith
Scratched: Joe Colborne, Cody Goloubef, Mikhail Grigorenko, Patrick Wiercioch
Injured: None

Wild projected lineup

Nino Niederreiter -- Eric Staal -- Chris Stewart
Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Charlie Coyle -- Martin Hanzal -- Jason Pominville
Erik Haula -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Ryan White
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Marco Scandella -- Matt Dumba
Jonas Brodin -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched: Christian Folin, Darcy Kuemper, Jordan Schroeder
Injured: Victor Bartley (arm), Jason Zucker (upper body)

Status report

Parise returned against Nashville after missing one game with an upper-body injury. He had three shots on goal and blocked two shots in 17:09.

Who's hot

Staal has 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in his past 13 games. … Pickard stopped 27 of 28 shots against the Blues.