Avalanche at Jets preview

AVALANCHE (22-23-11) at JETS (36-18-3)
8 p.m. ET; TSN3, ALT, NHL.TV

The Avalanche are 0-5-3 during their skid and have allowed at least four goals in seven of the eight games. Colorado is looking to avoid its longest losing streak since it lost nine straight (0-8-1) from Jan. 12-Feb. 1, 2017.
Colorado, which is 3-13-5 in its past 21 games, is four points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Jets, in first place in the Central Division, have won back-to-back games following a three-game losing streak (0-2-1). They are 5-2-1 in their past eight games.
Winnipeg will try to extend its home point streak to 10 games; the Jets are 8-0-1 in their past nine games and 12-2-1 in their past 15 at Bell MTS Place.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has two points (one goal, one assist) in his past eight games after having 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his previous seven games. He's three points shy of 200 in the NHL.
Jets center Mark Scheifele has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past two games and 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in his past 17.

They said it

"Every challenge we could possibly face as a team is presented tonight. No better opportunity to face them here tonight … especially when you're going through with what we're going through. It's going to take an exceptional effort from our group." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"It's just like any other game at this time of year. We know they're going to come in hard. [They're] going through a tough stretch right now so we know they're going to be a desperate hockey team. We need to make sure we're up to our level and playing with a little bit of consistency." -- Jets defenseman Tyler Myers

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Patrik Laine -- Bryan Little -- Jack Roslovic
Mathieu Perreault -- Adam Lowry -- Brandon Tanev
Brendan Lemieux -- Andrew Copp -- Mason Appleton
Josh Morrissey -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Dustin Byfuglien
Joe Morrow -- Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Nic Petan
Injured: Nikolaj Ehlers (upper body). Dmitry Kulikov (upper body)

Status report

Ehlers' return has been pushed back 1-3 weeks; he will miss his 17th straight game.

Stat pack

Landeskog has three assists in his past eight games after having nine points (five goals, four assists) in his previous seven. He needs two points for 400 in the NHL. … Laine has two assists in his past 10 games.