Avalanche at Jets preview
Colorado begins five-game road trip; Laine eyes 200th NHL point for Winnipeg
by Darrin Bauming / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
AVALANCHE (10-5-2) at JETS (10-7-1)
8 p.m. ET; TSN3, ALT, NHL.TV
The Game
The Colorado Avalanche begin a five-game road trip when they play the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place on Tuesday.
Colorado, which has three trips of five or more games this season, is looking for a third straight victory after going winless in its previous five games (0-4-1).
The Jets have also won two straight games and are 4-0-1 in their past five. They defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 in overtime on Sunday, improving to 4-1-1 in their past six games on home ice.
Players to watch
Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar was named NHL Third Star for the week ending Nov. 10 after having six points (three goals, three assists) in three games. Makar leads NHL rookies in scoring with 17 points (4 goals, 13 assists) in 17 games.
Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck has stopped 92 percent or more of the shots he has faced in eight of his past nine starts. He is tied for third in the NHL with a .933 save percentage and has allowed two goals or less in five of his past six starts.
They said it
"You look at who they have out of their lineup; they still have a lot of weapons that can hurt you and they can still put the puck in the net. When Nathan MacKinnon comes to town it's always a tough test to shut him down and keep his line off the scoreboard." -- Jets forward Adam Lowry
"Two of our best players [Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen] are out. That's like 180 points gone, so it's tough to fill that but we're trying our best. We had a bit of a losing streak, but we've won a couple in a row now so we're feeling better." -- Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon
Avalanche projected lineup
Matt Calvert -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Joonas Donskoi
Jayson Megna -- Nazem Kadri -- J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto -- Tyson Jost -- Valeri Nichushkin
Andre Burakovsky -- Vladislav Kamenev -- T.J. Tynan
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ryan Graves -- Cale Makar
Ian Cole -- Mark Barberio
Pavel Francouz
Adam Werner
Scratched: Logan O'Connor, Kevin Connauton
Injured: Philipp Grubauer (lower body), Gabriel Landeskog (lower body), Mikko Rantanen (lower body), Colin Wilson (lower body), Nikita Zadorov (broken jaw), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (concussion)
Jets projected lineup
Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Patrik Laine
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Blake Wheeler -- Jack Roslovic
Andrew Copp -- Adam Lowry -- Mathieu Perreault
Joona Luoto -- David Gustafsson -- Logan Shaw
Josh Morrissey -- Tucker Poolman
Dmitry Kulikov -- Neal Pionk
Nathan Beaulieu -- Luca Sbisa
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Carl Dahlstrom, Anthony Bitetto
Injured: Bryan Little (perforated eardrum, vertigo), Gabriel Bourque (lower body), Mark Letestu (heart), Mason Appleton (foot)
Suspended: Dustin Byfuglien
Status report
Rantanen skated Monday but did not travel to Winnipeg. … Grubauer and Zadorov each practiced Monday, and Grubauer and Bellemare are on the road trip. … The Avalanche recalled Connauton and O'Connor from Colorado of the American Hockey League on Monday.
Stat pack
Graves has four points (one goal, three assists) in the past two games. ... Jost has three assists in the past two games. … Laine needs one point to reach 200 in the NHL. … Connor has seven points (two goals, five assists) in the past five games.