Jets at Avalanche preview

JETS (36-19-4) at AVALANCHE (24-24-11)
8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ALT, SN, NHL.TV

The Avalanche, one point behind the idle Minnesota Wild, will attempt to win consecutive games for the first time since they won a season-long six straight games from Nov. 18-28.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov will make his eighth straight start for Colorado, which is 2-6-3 in its past 11 games and has allowed at least four goals in seven of them.
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck will start for the Jets, who have lost two straight (0-1-1) and are 2-3-2 in their past seven games. Winnipeg, which leads the Nashville Predators by one point for first place in the Central Division, has allowed at least four goals in four of its past six games.

Players to watch

Jets center Mark Scheifele has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past four games. He has 24 points (six goals, 18 assists) in 22 games against Colorado.
Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past 11 games after having 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his previous seven. He's two points shy of 200 in the NHL.

They said it

"There are parts of our game that we don't like right now, so we're focused on that. We don't think that's a permanent thing because we know that at different times of the year, we've been really strong in those areas." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"We have to have a great push now and win as many games as we can. We have to have some streaks." -- Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Patrik Laine -- Bryan Little -- Jack Roslovic
Mathieu Perreault -- Adam Lowry -- Brandon Tanev
Brendan Lemieux -- Andrew Copp -- Mason Appleton
Josh Morrissey -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Sami Niku
Dmitry Kulikov -- Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Nic Petan, Tucker Poolman
Injured: Dustin Byfuglien (lower body), Nikolaj Ehlers (upper body), Joe Morrow (lower body)

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Status report

Ehlers skated in a non-contact jersey Wednesday. ... Poolman was recalled from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. … Wilson skated in a non-contact jersey.

Stat pack

Laine has two assists in his past 12 games. … Winnipeg is 0-for-19 on the power play in its past seven games. … Colorado is 0-for-26 on the power play in its past nine games.