Canucks at Avalanche preview

CANUCKS (24-31--7) at AVALANCHE (32-24-5)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, SNP, NHL.TV

The Avalanche have gone 5-8-2 since winning 10 games in a row and are 10-1-0 in the past 11 at home.
Colorado is four points behind the Calgary Flames for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Canucks won for the first time in three games Sunday, 3-1 against the Arizona Coyotes. Vancouver is in seventh place in the Pacific Division, 18 points behind Calgary for the second wild card into the playoffs.
Vancouver acquired forward Brendan Leipsic on Monday from the Vegas Golden Knights for defenseman Philip Holm. Leipsic has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in 44 games.

Players to watch

Canucks forward Daniel Sedin has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past seven games.
Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past three games.

They said it

"As a team, we're breaking the puck out a lot cleaner and we're coming up the ice together. We're creating more offense." -- Canucks forward Daniel Sedin
"We have a handful of games here at home now in a row in a building in front of our fans where we've played pretty well and had good focus and energy. That's exactly what we need at this point." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Canucks projected lineup

Nikolay Goldobin -- Bo Horvat -- Brock Boeser
Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Thomas Vanek
Darren Archibald -- Brandon Sutter -- Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi -- Sam Gagner -- Jake Virtanen
Alexander Edler -- Erik Gudbranson
Michael Del Zotto -- Troy Stecher
Ben Hutton -- Derrick Pouliot
Anders Nilsson
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched:Reid Boucher, Brendan Leipsic
Injured: Brendan Gaunce (foot), Markus Granlund (ankle), Chris Tanev (lower body)

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Status report

The Canucks didn't have a morning skate ... Nilsson could start after Markstrom played Sunday ... The Avalanche claimed defenseman Mark Alt on waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers. He will join the team this week ... Lindholm skated with a non-contact jersey. He's missed three games.

Stat pack

Boeser has an assist in three consecutive games ... MacKinnon has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past three games.