Avalanche at Predators preview

AVALANCHE (13-6-4) at PREDATORS (17-6-1)
8 p.m. ET; ALT2, FS-TN, NHL.TV

The Avalanche have outscored their opponents 19-9 in the past four games and have gone 6-0-1 in their past seven games.
Nashville is 4-1-0 in its past five games and has won 11 consecutive regular season games against Colorado; its last loss was March 28, 2016 (4-3).
Goaltender Pekka Rinne, who is expected to start for Nashville, is 7-1-1 with a 1.47 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage in his past 10 games.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past four games and leads the NHL with 28 assists and 38 points.
Predators forward Austin Watson has four goals in his past three games.

They said it

"I think we're just getting some leads. We're not really chasing the game much. I guess last game we were down 2-1 late, but we outplayed them the whole night so we felt like we deserved it. We had a five-game losing streak. I think we've won five or six of seven here. I think we're just playing with some more confidence. Guys are scoring, and obviously the goalies are playing awesome." -- Avalanche forward
Nathan MacKinnon
"The versatility of our team is important just because there's so many styles of games, and we can show up in all of those styles of games. But I think in the end it's just a matter of us playing our own style, a fast type of game. That game we've got to bring tonight again." -- Predators forward Frederick Gaudreau

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Predators projected lineup

Filip Forsberg -- Ryan Johansen -- Austin Watson
Kevin Fiala -- Calle Jarnkrok -- Craig Smith
Colton Sissons -- Nick Bonino -- Ryan Hartman
Zac Rinaldo -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Miikka Salomaki
Roman Josi -- Ryan Ellis
Dan Hamhuis -- Mattias Ekholm
Matt Irwin -- Yannick Weber
Pekka Rinne
Juuse Saros
Scratched:Anthony Bitetto, Rocco Grimaldi
Injured:Viktor Arvidsson (broken thumb), P.K. Subban (upper body), Kyle Turris (undisclosed)

Status report

Barrie will miss the game with an undisclosed injury. ... Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Kamenev and Dries will not play. … The Predators held an optional morning skate.

Stat pack

Varlamov is 4-0-0 with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage in his past four starts. … Josi has six assists in his past six games. ... MacKinnon has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past four games.