Canucks at Avalanche preview

CANUCKS (23-22-6) at AVALANCHE (22-20-8)
10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, SN360, SN1, CITY, ALT2, NHL.TV

The Avalanche have lost two straight games and are 3-10-2 in their past 15.
Alex Kerfoot will replace Landeskog at left wing on the No. 1 line with MacKinnon at center, and Colin Wilson will replace Rantanen at right wing. Landeskog will move to left wing on the second line with center Carl Soderberg and Rantanen at right wing.
The Canucks, 3-1-1 in their past five games after going 1-3-1 in their previous five games, will adjust their lines as well. Nikolay Goldobin, a healthy scratch the past four games and six of the past nine, will replace Markus Granlund at left wing on Vancouver's second line with center Elias Pettersson and right wing Brock Boeser.
Colorado and Vancouver are tied in points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference; the Avalanche have played one fewer game.

Players to watch

Canucks center Elias Pettersson has three points (one goal, two assists) in two games after missing five games with a sprained knee.
Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his past nine games.

They said it

"You look at the schedule, you look at the standings, these are games you want to play. You want to coach in them, you want to play in them. They're exciting." -- Canucks coach Travis Green
"All things considered, we are in a decent spot, not as good as where we should have been from our start, but we are in a playoff position and we control our own destiny." -- Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon

Canucks projected lineup

Sven Baertschi -- Bo Horvat -- Josh Leivo
Nikolay Goldobin -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel -- Brandon Sutter -- Jake Virtanen
Loui Eriksson -- Jay Beagle -- Tyler Motte
Alexander Edler -- Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton -- Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot -- Erik Gudbranson
Jacob Markstrom
Thatcher Demko
Scratched: Alex Biega, Markus Granlund, Tim Schaller
Injured: None

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Status report

Johnson will play after missing two games because of a concussion.

Stat pack

Boeser has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past five games … Markstrom is 2-1-1 with a 2.45 goals-against average in his past four starts. … MacKinnon has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in his past 14 games. … Landeskog has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past nine games.