Avalanche at Penguins preview

AVALANCHE (5-0-0) at PENGUINS (4-2-0)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSN

It would match the second-best start in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history and be one win behind the 1985-86 Nordiques, who began 7-0-0. Colorado has outscored its opponents 22-12, including a 6-3 win against the Washington Capitals on Monday.
The Penguins have outscored its opponents 16-7 during a three-game winning streak after starting the season with two losses in three games (1-2-0). They scored seven goals in each game of a back-to-back on the road, defeating the Minnesota Wild 7-4 on Saturday and the Winnipeg Jets 7-2 on Sunday.

Players to watch

Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (six assists in five games) could become the second defenseman in NHL history to begin his regular-season career with a six-game point streak. He would join Marek Zidlicky, who had seven points (two goals, five assists) on a six-game streak for the Nashville Predators from Oct. 9-23, 2003.
Penguins forward Jake Guentzel has six points (four goals, two assists) during a five-game point streak.

They said it

"Where [Makar is] playing, especially on the first power-play unit, he's been great. ... He's just getting better and better." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"We're trying to implement a gameplan that we think plays to our strengths and helps us win games regardless of where the rink is."-- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Joonas Donskoi -- Nazem Kadri -- Andre Burakovsky
Colin Wilson -- Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher
Matt Calvert -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Matt Nieto
Erik Johnson -- Samuel Girard
Cale Makar -- Ian Cole
Ryan Graves -- Mark Barberio
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz
Scratched:Kevin Connauton, Vladislav Kamenev, Nikita Zadorov, Valeri Nichushkin
Injured: None

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Dominik Simon
Dominik Kahun -- Sam Lafferty -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev
Adam Johnson -- Joseph Blandisi -- Juuso Riikola
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- Justin Schultz
Jack Johnson -- John Marino
Matt Murray
Tristan Jarry
Scratched:Chad Ruhwedel, Erik Gudbranson
Injured:Evgeni Malkin (lower body), Nick Bjugstad (lower body), Bryan Rust (upper body), Alex Galchenyuk (lower body), Jared McCann (lower body)

Status report

Compher will return after missing three games with a lower-body injury. ... McCann is a game-time decision. The Penguins could use Riikola, a defenseman, at fourth-line right wing if McCann can't play.

Stat pack

MacKinnon (two goals, six assists), Rantanen (four goals, five assists) and Makar are each on a five-game point streak to open the season. It's the first time three players have started a season on a streak of at least five games in Colorado/Quebec history. ... Crosby (three goals, seven assists) and Letang (two goals, six assists) are each on a six-game point streak.