Islanders at Avalanche preview

ISLANDERS (33-19-6) at AVALANCHE (33-18-7)
10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ALT, MSG+, NHL.TV

It will be Varlamov's first game in Colorado since signing a four-year contract with the Islanders on July 1. He made 32 saves in a 1-0 win against the Avalanche on Jan. 6 at Nassau Coliseum. Varlamov spent eight seasons with Colorado and ranks second to Patrick Roy in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history for games played by a goalie (389), wins (183) and shutouts (21).
Islanders forward Derick Brassard also will play his first game in Colorado since signing a one-year contract with New York on Aug. 21. He scored four goals in 20 regular-season games with the Avalanche last season.
New York has lost three straight games (0-3-0) and is one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division and tied with the Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Avalanche are 0-2-1 in their past three games and are one point behind the Dallas Stars for second place in the Central Division.

Players to watch

Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his past 14 games.
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past 11 games.

They said it

"It'll be an emotional night for (Semyon Varlamov). Hopefully he can maintain his level of play. He's given us a chance to get a point every night. It'll be a real difficult task in this building against a very offensive team." -- Islanders coach Barry Trotz
"He held this team together for a long time even when we weren't a very good hockey team. He stood on his head a lot of nights to get us two points. We never made it easy on him. He was always the hardest-working guy and he never complained." -- Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, on Varlamov

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier -- Brock Nelson -- Josh Bailey
Kieffer Bellows -- Leo Komarov -- Matt Martin
Michael Dal Colle -- Derick Brassard -- Tom Kuhnhackl
Devon Toews -- Ryan Pulock
Nick Leddy -- Johnny Boychuk
Andy Greene -- Scott Mayfield
Semyon Varlamov
Thomas Greiss
Scratched: Noah Dobson, Ross Johnston
Injured: Casey Cizikas (leg laceration), Cal Clutterbuck (wrist), Adam Pelech (Achilles)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Andre Burakovsky
Valeri Nichushkin -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi
Matt Nieto -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Martin Kaut
T.J. Tynan -- Tyson Jost -- Vladislav Kamenev
Ryan Graves -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Ian Cole
Pavel Francouz
Hunter Miska
Scratched: Mark Barberio
Injured: Matt Calvert (lower body), Nazem Kadri (lower body), Philipp Grubauer (lower body), Mikko Rantanen (upper body), Colin Wilson (lower body)

Status report

The Islanders assigned forward
Cole Bardreau
to Bridgeport of the American Hockey League. … Kaut will make his NHL debut after being recalled from Colorado of the AHL. He was the Avalanche's first-round pick (No. 16) in the 2018 NHL Draft.

Stat pack

Bailey has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past six games. … Nichushkin has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past nine games.