Wild at Avalanche preview

WILD (22-16-3) at AVALANCHE (21-16-3)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-N+, NHL.TV

Goaltender Jonathan Bernier will start for Colorado, which has not won five consecutive games since. Dec. 12-19, 2015. Bernier will try to win his fourth start in a row; he has allowed three goals in his past three starts for the Avalanche, 9-3-1 in their past 13 games.
This will be Colorado's last game before their League-mandated break; they will be off for six days before playing at the Dallas Stars on Jan. 13.
The Wild seek their third straight win; they are 4-1-0 in their past five games after going 1-4-0 in their previous five.
Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk will try to win his fourth straight start since returning from a lower-body injury on Dec. 29; he has allowed five goals in his past three starts.

Players to watch

Wild forward Mikael Granlund has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games.
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a four-game point streak, and 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"I guarantee, even though they've won four [in a row], they will come out, it's their last game before break, they can catch us. They've got everything to go for. This will be as tough a game as we've had in a long time." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on the Avalanche
"I think it's good to have rivals, I think it brings out the best in one another. In order to have a true rivalry, you have to be competitive. You have to be in the mix, and that's where we are right now." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Tyler Ennis
Nino Niederreiter -- Mikko Koivu -- Mikael Granlund
Joel Eriksson Ek -- Charlie Coyle -- Zach Parise
Marcus Foligno -- Matt Cullen -- Daniel Winnik
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Gustav Olofsson -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:Mike Reilly, Chris Stewart
Injured: None

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
A.J. Greer -- Alex Kerfoot -- Nail Yakupov
Colin Wilson -- Tyson Jost -- Gabriel Bourque
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth -- Mark Barberio
Samuel Girard -- Anton Lindholm
Jonathan Bernier
Andrew Hammond
Scratched: Andrei Mironov
Injured: Sven Andrighetto (lower body), Tyson Barrie (fractured hand), J.T. Compher (upper body), Vladislav Kamenev (fractured arm), Semyon Varlamov (lower body)
Status report
Compher has resumed skating but will miss his fourth consecutive game.

Stat pack

The Wild are 12-3-1 in their past 16 games against the Avalanche. ... Coyle has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past five games. … Landeskog has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his past nine games.