Avalanche at Blues preview

AVALANCHE (17-9-5) at BLUES (11-14-4)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, ALT2, NHL.TV

Rantanen has 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) in a 12-game point streak; he leads the NHL in points (52) and assists (39).
The Avalanche are 1-3-0 in their past four games after going 9-0-2 in their previous 11.
Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson practiced Friday and will be a game-time decision after missing a 4-3 win against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday because of a hand injury.

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Players to watch

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) the past 12 games.
Blues center Tyler Bozak has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in 13 games against Colorado.

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They said it

"We've lost two in a row and they're not off to the start they want. I think they're a better team than what they've shown thus far. Overall we've had tight games against them. I expect another one tonight, tough building." -- Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson
"We're finding better pieces to our game. It's still not there right now, but you can tell the feeling around the room is a little bit better and hopefully we can string some consistency together." -- Blues goalie Jake Allen

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Avalanche projected lineup

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

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Blues projected lineup

Alexander Steen -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- David Perron
Pat Maroon -- Tyler Bozak -- Robert Thomas
Jordan Nolan -- Ivan Barbashev -- Oskar Sundqvist
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo
Chris Butler -- Jordan Schmaltz
Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched:Zach Sanford
Injured:Alex Pietrangelo (hand/wrist), Joel Edmundson (upper body), Robby Fabbri (shoulder), Carl Gunnarsson (wrist)

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Status report

Kerfoot will miss a second straight game. ... Varlamov will start against the Dallas Stars at Pepsi Center on Saturday. ... Fabbri skated Friday; it was his first time on the ice since separating his shoulder against the Arizona Coyotes on Dec. 1.

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Stat pack

Landeskog has 10 points (four goals, six assists) during a five-game point streak. ... Schenn has four points (two goals, two assists) in the past four games.