Avalanche at Blues preview

AVALANCHE (29-19-4) at BLUES (32-20-3)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, ALT, NHL.TV

Rantanen missed a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday with a lower-body injury. Colorado is already playing without center Nathan MacKinnon for another 1-3 weeks; he has missed three games with an upper-body injury.
The Avalanche are 2-3-1 in their past six games following a 10-game winning streak.
Goaltender Carter Hutton will start for the Blues, who look to win for the seventh time in 10 games. Hutton was pulled after the first period in his last start, when he allowed three goals in a 6-2 loss against the Minnesota Wild.

Players to watch

Rantanen has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in his past 13 games.
Blues forward Alexander Steen has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past nine games.

They said it

"To have a guy like that, that can be a game-breaker and can get you some offense is key. ... To have a guy that might be able to make a play and score … or get you a chance or two is key, and Mikko obviously has the ability to do that." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on forward Mikko Rantanen
"Every loss is tough. That one, obviously, at home, we let in six goals, it was a tough one. For us, it's all about bouncing back. We really have to have a game." -- Blues forward Patrik Berglund on responding after their 6-2 loss against the Wild

#

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Alex Kerfoot -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson
Gabriel Bourque -- Dominic Toninato -- Nail Yakupov
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie
Samuel Girard -- Anton Lindholm
Jonathan Bernier
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched:A.J. Greer, Andrei Mironov
Injured: Nathan MacKinnon (upper body), Sven Andrighetto (lower body), Mark Barberio (lower body), Vladislav Kamenev (arm)

Blues projected lineup

Alexander Steen -- Paul Stastny -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Patrik Berglund
Dmitrij Jaskin -- Vladimir Sobotka -- Tage Thompson
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Ivan Barbashev
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson -- Vince Dunn
Carter Hutton
Jake Allen
Scratched: Robert Bortuzzo, Chris Thorburn
Injured:Zach Sanford (shoulder)

Status report

Rantanen will rejoin the top line with Landeskog and Kerfoot, Wilson will move to the third line and Yakupov will play on the fourth line. ... Berglund moves into a top six-role with Schwartz and Schenn, and Tarasenko moves onto a line with Stastny and Steen. … Thompson, a healthy scratch Tuesday, returns to the lineup.

Stat pack

Bernier is 11-2-1 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .941 save percentage his past 14 games (13 starts). ... The Blues are 8-0-1 in their past nine games against the Avalanche.