Avalanche at Canucks preview

AVALANCHE (31-23-4) at CANUCKS (23-30-6)
10 p.m. ET; SNP, ALT, NHL.TV

Johnson, who leads the Avalanche in average ice time (25:43), and Lindholm each sustained an upper-body injury in a 4-2 loss against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Colorado recalled defensemen Andrei Mironov and David Warsofsky from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Monday.
Colorado has lost two straight games and is five points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Vancouver goalie Anders Nilsson will start after making 44 saves in a 6-1 win against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, which was the Canucks second win in the past eight games (2-6-0).

Players to watch

Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avalanche with 61 points (24 goals, 37 assists) in 50 games.
Canucks left wing Daniel Sedin has five points (two goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"We're all going to have to play a little more when you lose a guy like [Erik Johnson] who plays 25-30 minutes a night." -- Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie, who moves up from the third pair with Lindholm into Johnson's spot on the top pair with Nikita Zhadorov
"I think he can be a good shutdown defenseman against top lines. I don't think skilled players enjoy lining up every shift against Erik Gudbranson." -- Canucks coach Travis Green, on defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who signed a three-year contract on Tuesday

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Canucks projected lineup

Sven Baertschi -- Bo Horvat -- Brock Boeser
Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Thomas Vanek
Darren Archibald -- Brandon Sutter -- Loui Eriksson
Nikolay Goldobin -- Nic Dowd -- Jake Virtanen
Alexander Edler -- Erik Gudbranson
Michael Del Zotto -- Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot -- Alex Biega
Anders Nilsson
Richard Bachman
Scratched:Philip Holm, Reid Boucher, Ben Hutton
Injured: Brendan Gaunce (foot), Markus Granlund (ankle), Chris Tanev (lower body), Sam Gagner (upper body), Jacob Markstrom (undisclosed)

Status report

Colorado coach Jared Bednar said Bernier is in concussion protocol after leaving following the second period of a 6-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. … Bachman was called up from Utica of the American Hockey League to back up Nilsson because Markstrom has a minor injury. … Gagner will miss his seventh game but is expected to play against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.

Stat pack

Rantanen has six points (one goal, five assists) in past 11 games, after 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) in his previous 17 games. … Horvat has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past four games.