Avalanche at Senators preview

AVALANCHE (21-17-8) at SENATORS (17-24-5)
7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, ALT, NHL.TV

Chabot has missed eight games because of an upper-body injury, sustained when he was hit by New York Islanders forward Matt Martin in a 6-3 Ottawa loss on Dec. 28. He will play on the Senators first defense pair with Dylan DeMelo.
Duchene missed all three games on Ottawa's California road trip because of the birth of his first child, Beau David Newell Duchene. The center will play between Ryan Dzingel and Bobby Ryan on the Senators second line.
Goalie Anders Nilsson will start for Ottawa, which looks for its third win in four games following an eight-game losing streak (0-7-1).
Goalie Semyon Varlamov will start for the Avalanche, who are 2-7-2 in their past 11 games.

Players to watch

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has no points in his past two games after having 11 points (five goals, six assists) in an eight-game point streak; he has yet to go three straight games without a point this season.
Senators forward Bobby Ryan has eight points (three goals, five assists) in a seven-game point streak.

They said it

"We try to keep our guys refreshed any way we can, whether that's with rest, a little time away from the rink, try to be a little lighter when we come here and make sure they're still having fun. … Happy hockey players are productive hockey players." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on Colorado playing the finale of a five-game road trip
"I think they always know where they are on the ice. Obviously, they're real dangerous any time they're on the ice [and] they're all three very talented players." -- Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot on Colorado's forward line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk -- Chris Tierney -- Mark Stone
Ryan Dzingel -- Matt Duchene -- Bobby Ryan
Rudolfs Balcers -- Nicholas Paul -- Mikkel Boedker
Zack Smith -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Thomas Chabot -- Dylan DeMelo
Max Lajoie -- Cody Ceci
Mark Borowiecki -- Christian Jaros
Christian Wolanin
Anders Nilsson
Marcus Hogberg
Scratched: Ben Harpur, Magnus Paajarvi
Injured: Craig Anderson (concussion), Justin Falk (upper body), Mike Condon (hip), Colin White (upper body)

Status report

Ottawa will dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen if all defensemen on the roster are healthy, coach Guy Boucher said. … Boucher said Anderson may be available Saturday.

Stat pack

Rantanen has 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists) in his past 27 games. … The Senators have allowed at least four goals in six of their past nine games.