Senators at Avalanche preview

SENATORS (4-3-1) at AVALANCHE (6-2-2)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV

The center was acquired by the Senators in a three-team trade involving the Avalanche and Nashville Predators on Nov. 5, 2017. His first two games for Ottawa were against Colorado as part of the 2017 SAP NHL Global Series in Stockholm on Nov. 10 and 11.
Duchene has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in eight games this season. Selected by the Avalanche with the No. 3 pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, he played 586 regular-season games in nine seasons with Colorado and is seventh in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history with 178 goals and 10th in assists (250) and points (428).
Goalie Philipp Grubauer will start his first home game for the Avalanche. He is 2-1-0 in three road starts with a 2.68 goals-against average and .925 save percentage.

Players to watch

Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in eight games this season, with at least one point in seven of them.
Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 10 games this season, with at least a point in nine of them.

They said it

"It was an honor and a dream to be an Av. It's going to be emotional for me tonight and I'll try and keep all those emotions pushed down so I can focus on the game as much as I can. It's going to feel a little weird."-- Senators center Matt Duchene
"Obviously [Duchene] had a good career here and I'm sure it'll be emotional for him. I've played against a lot of buddies that got traded. It's common in our business to play against former teammates." -- Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon

Senators projected lineup

Ryan Dzingel -- Chris Tierney -- Mark Stone
Mikkel Boedker -- Matt Duchene -- Colin White
Alex Formenton -- Zack Smith -- Bobby Ryan
Magnus Paajarvi -- Tom Pyatt -- Max McCormick
Thomas Chabot -- Dylan DeMelo
Max Lajoie -- Cody Ceci
Christian Jaros -- Chris Wideman
Craig Anderson
Mike Condon
Scratched: Christian Wolanin
Injured: Ben Harpur (upper body), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Achilles), Brady Tkachuk (leg)
Suspended:Mark Borowiecki

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Sven Andrighetto -- Alex Kerfoot -- Marko Dano
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
Tyson Jost -- Vladislav Kamenev -- Colin Wilson
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov -- Patrik Nemeth
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched:Mark Barberio, Gabriel Bourque
Injured:J.T. Compher (head)

Status report

Ceci will play after missing four games with an upper-body injury. … McCormick returns after missing seven games with a lower-body injury.

Stat pack

Stone needs one goal for 100 in his NHL career … The line of Landeskog (seven), MacKinnon (three) and Rantanen (three) has scored 13 of Colorado's 16 goals in their past six games.