Flyers at Avalanche preview

FLYERS (1-0-0) at AVALANCHE (1-0-0)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, NBCSP, NHL.TV

The Game

Center Sean Couturier will play his 500th NHL game when the Philadelphia Flyers play the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center on Saturday. Couturier, who is in his eighth season with the Flyers, set NHL career highs last season with 31 goals, 45 assists and 76 points in 82 games.
Former Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard, claimed off waivers Monday by the Flyers from the Toronto Maple Leafs, took part in the morning skate and will back up Brian Elliott. Philadelphia loaned goalie Anthony Stolarz to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League to make room for Pickard.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov will make his second start for the Avalanche. He made 20 saves Thursday in a 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild. Varlamov has a 3-2-1 record against the Flyers with a 3.00 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.

Players to watch

Elliott made 23 saves in a 5-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. He has a 9-2-2 record against Colorado with one shutout, a 2.10 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon had eight shots on goal and scored the game-winning goal against the Wild. He matched Joe Sakic's franchise record last season with 12 game-winning goals.

They said it

"We're playing against a team that plays with a lot of team speed, maybe even more than Vegas in terms of the way they play. Our defense did a good job in game No. 1 and now the challenge is for our group to go out and do a solid job again." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol
"(The Flyers) work hard, they go to the net hard, pressure the puck hard. They look like they're a handful. There'll be times when we'll have to collapse in front of our net because they come to the net pretty hard." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom -- Nolan Patrick -- Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk -- Mikhail Vorobyev -- Wayne Simmonds
Scott Laughton -- Jori Lehtera -- Michael Raffl
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Ivan Provorov
Andrew MacDonald -- Robert Hagg
Travis Sanheim -- Christian Folin
Brian Elliott
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Radko Gudas, Jordan Weal, Dale Weise
Injured: Michal Neuvirth (lower body)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Alex Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost -- Colin Wilson
Sheldon Dries -- J.T. Compher -- Matt Calvert
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Gabriel Bourque
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Mark Barberio -- Ian Cole
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: None
Injured: Sven Andrighetto (leg), Patrik Nemeth (upper body)

Status report

Neuvirth faced shots in the morning skate but isn't ready to play … Folin will make his Flyers debut, replacing Gudas. He signed a one-year contract as a free agent July 5 … Barberio will make his season debut, replacing Nemeth, who was injured against the Wild.

Stat pack

The Flyers have won their past three games at Pepsi Center. … The Avalanche are 19-4-1 in their past 24 regular-season home games. .. Pickard was 28-44-6 with a 2.77 GAA and .914 save percentage in 86 games for Colorado from 2014-2017.