Flyers at Avalanche preview

FLYERS (38-25-14) at AVALANCHE (41-27-8)
10 p.m. ET; ALT, NBCSP+, NHL.TV

The Flyers, 3-0-3 in their past six games, are one point behind the third-place Columbus Blue Jackets in the Metropolitan and two points behind the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh holds the tiebreaker over Philadelphia with five more regulation/overtime wins. Philadelphia holds the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Avalanche, 9-3-3 in their past 15 games, can move into the first wild card in the Western Conference with a win; they trail the St. Louis Blues, who hold the first wild card, and the Anaheim Ducks, who hold the second, by one point each.
Goaltender Andrew Hammond could make his Colorado debut after being recalled from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Wednesday; Varlamov is ill and didn't practice Wednesday.

Players to watch

Flyers forward Claude Giroux has nine assists in a five-game point streak and 26 points (seven goals, 19 assists) in his past 19 games.
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in his past 18 games.

They said it

"We keep battling for points every night. It's been that way for the last dozen games for us, and that's not going to change all the way through. That's the reality of the playoff battle." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol
"Six more games, this is the best time of the year, battling for the playoffs. It's a push and it's going to be a lot of fun." -- Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom -- Nolan Patrick -- Jakub Voracek
Jordan Weal -- Valtteri Filppula -- Wayne Simmonds
Jori Lehtera -- Scott Laughton -- Matt Read
Ivan Provorov -- Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim -- Andrew MacDonald
Brandon Manning -- Radko Gudas
Petr Mrazek
Alex Lyon
Scratched: Robert Hagg, Taylor Leier, Dale Weise
Injured:Brian Elliott (lower body), Michal Neuvirth (lower body), Johnny Oduya (upper body), Michael Raffl (upper body)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Alex Kerfoot
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Gabriel Bourque -- Dominic Toninato -- Nail Yakupov
Patrik Nemeth -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Mark Alt -- Samuel Girard
Andrew Hammond
Spencer Martin
Scratched:Vladislav Kamenev, Anton Lindholm, Duncan Siemens, David Warsofsky
Injured: Sven Andrighetto (lower body), Mark Barberio (upper body), Jonathan Bernier (infected cut on hand), Semyon Varlamov (illness), Colin Wilson (lower body)

Status report

Neuvirth took part in an optional morning skate and could start. He has been out since Feb. 18 because of a lower-body injury.

Stat pack

Konecny has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past eight games ... Rantanen has 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) in his past 15 games.