Stars at Avalanche preview

STARS (5-3-0) at AVALANCHE (4-4-0)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-SW, NHL.TV

Goalie Semyon Varlamov will start for the Avalanche, who will try to end a three-game losing streak that followed a 4-1-0 start. They are 2-1-0 at Pepsi Center and coming off a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Players to watch

Stars center Tyler Seguin has six points (four goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak. He leads the Stars with six goals, and his 45 shots on goal are third in the NHL. He has 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) in 19 career games against the Avalanche.
Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie has five points (one goal, four assists) in a five-game point streak, tying his NHL career high. He has 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in 18 games against the Stars.

They said it

"It's still early in the season; we haven't even played 10 games yet. I like some of the stuff we're doing, but I see room for improvement in other areas. For me, it's continue the process, and hopefully we keep improving in the areas we're working on and bring it into the game." -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock
"We have to get back to everyone pulling their weight, playing like they can. Hopefully the four-day break will help us get that bad taste out of our mouth about the last three games. We want to be better at home. So far, two out of three is pretty good and we want to keep that percentage going our way." -- Avalanche center Matt Duchene

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Devin Shore -- Mattias Janmark -- Jason Spezza
Antoine Roussel -- Radek Faksa -- Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie -- Martin Hanzal -- Brett Ritchie
Marc Methot -- John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis -- Stephen Johns
Esa Lindell -- Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched:Jamie Oleksiak , Greg Pateryn , Gemel Smith
Injured:None

Avalanche projected lineup

Sven Andrighetto -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog -- Matt Duchene -- Nail Yakupov
Matt Nieto -- Alex Kerfoot -- A.J. Greer
Gabriel Bourque -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Anton Lindholm -- Tyson Barrie
Mark Barberio -- Chris Bigras
Semyon Varlamov
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched: Andrei Mironov
Injured: J.T. Compher (broken thumb), Tyson Jost (lower body), Patrik Nemeth (lower body), Colin Wilson (undisclosed)

Status report

Mironov was recalled from San Antonio of the American Hockey League. Bigras will play after being a healthy scratch against St. Louis.

Stat pack

The Stars have killed 13 consecutive penalties during their four-game winning streak. … Colorado has five power-play goals in its past four games.