Blues at Avalanche preview

BLUES (8-12-3) at AVALANCHE (15-6-4)
9 p.m. ET; ALT2, FS-MW, NHL.TV

A victory for the Avalanche, 8-0-1 in their past nine games, would give them their longest winning streak since they won 10 straight games last season, from Dec. 29, 2017 to Jan. 22.
Center Nathan MacKinnon and forward Mikko Rantanen of Colorado can become the third set of teammates since 1988-89 with simultaneous multipoint streaks of at least seven games. MacKinnon has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) and Rantanen 13 points (three goals, 10 assists), each in a six-game streak.
The Blues look to avoid a third consecutive loss; they are 1-3-0 under coach Craig Berube and 1-5-0 in their past six games.

Players to watch

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly has four points (two goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak. He leads St. Louis in goals (12), assists (15) and points (27).
Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov has won five straight starts with a 2.21 goals-against average and .928 save percentage.

They said it

"I have to be a big part of turning this around. It's obviously been a frustrating start for us. We're trying to get back in this hunt and it's not going to be easy. We're running out of time, I guess." -- Blues center Ryan O'Reilly
"Our goal is to be playing our best hockey and try to sustain that as long as we possibly can and continue to grow through the season. I do want our guys focused on trying to get first place, and if we can get there to maintain it. It's a healthy goal." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Blues projected lineup

Alexander Steen -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri -- Brayden Schenn -- David Perron
Pat Maroon -- Tyler Bozak -- Sammy Blais
Zach Sanford -- Ivan Barbashev -- Oskar Sundqvist
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn -- Colton Parayko
Jay Bouwmeester -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Chad Johnson
Scratched: Carl Gunnarsson, Jordan Schmaltz, Robert Thomas
Injured:Jaden Schwartz (upper body)

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Status report

Bortuzzo will play for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury Oct. 20. He missed 16 games. … The Blues assigned forward Nikita Soshnikov to San Antonio of the American Hockey League. … Alt will play after being recalled from the Colorado Eagles of the AHL.

Stat pack

Perron has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past two games. … Landeskog has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past six games.