Avalanche at Penguins preview

AVALANCHE (16-6-5) at PENGUINS (10-10-5)
7 p.m. ET; TVAS, ATTSN-PT, ALT, NHL.TV

The 27-year-old defenseman has missed four games with a lower-body injury sustained against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 24. He leads Avalanche defensemen with 20 points (three goals, 17 assists) in 23 games.
The Avalanche are 9-0-2 in their past 11 games, including a 6-3 win against Pittsburgh on Nov. 28. They have not lost in regulation since Nov. 9 (5-2 at the Winnipeg Jets).
The Penguins have lost their past two games after winning three of four (3-0-1). They are 3-5-2 in their past 10 games.
Colorado defenseman Ian Cole will return to Pittsburgh for the first time since being traded by the Penguins to the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 23 and then to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Feb. 26 before signing with Colorado on July 1.

Players to watch

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in his past eight games.
Penguins center Sidney Crosby had a natural hat trick in the loss to the Avalanche. He has seven points (five goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"My couple years here were some of the best of my career, and certainly of my life. ... At the time I never wanted to leave." -- Avalanche defenseman Ian Cole
"[The Avalanche are] really dynamic. They have really good players so we're going to have to defend really well against them." -- Penguins defenseman Kris Letang

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Dominik Simon
Tanner Pearson -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Derick Brassard -- Phil Kessel
Bryan Rust -- Derek Grant -- Riley Sheahan
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Juuso Riikola
Jack Johnson -- Jamie Oleksiak
Casey DeSmith
Tristan Jarry
Scratched: Chad Ruhwedel, Garrett Wilson, Marcus Pettersson
Injured: Matt Murray (lower body), Justin Schultz (left leg fracture), Matt Cullen (lower body)

Status report

Barrie's return means Alt will be scratched. ... Coach Mike Sullivan said Pettersson would be available to make his Penguins debut after being acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on Monday but did not confirm that he would play.

Stat pack

Johnson needs one assist to reach 200 in the NHL. ... The Penguins have not allowed a power-play goal in eight straight games. That is their longest streak since Dec. 21, 2015-Jan. 9, 2016, when they didn't surrender one in nine straight.