Jets at Avalanche preview

JETS (46-30-4) at AVALANCHE (37-29-14)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, TSN3, NHL.TV

The Avalanche, 7-0-2 in their past nine games, are four points ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference and three points behind the Dallas Stars, who hold the first wild card. Colorado also will clinch if the Coyotes lose to the Vegas Golden Knights in any fashion.
The Jets will clinch first place in the Central Division with a win in any fashion on Thursday, combined with a Nashville Predators regulation loss to the Vancouver Canucks and a St. Louis Blues loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in any fashion.
Winnipeg is 1-4-0 in its past five games after going 5-1-0 in its previous six.

Players to watch

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck is 5-3-0 with a 2.34 goals-against average, .933 save percentage and two shutouts in his past nine games (eight starts).
Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer is 7-1-2 with a 1.48 GAA, .955 save percentage and two shutouts in his past 10 starts.

They said it

"They have a lot on the line tonight and so do we. We have something to prove to ourselves, but we have what it takes in here." -- Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba
"It just feels like every night we're playing a must-win [game] and you're kind of riding the emotion of that. I think our guys have done a pretty good job of staying even-keel. It's no different tonight." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Kevin Hayes -- Patrik Laine
Par Lindholm -- Adam Lowry -- Bryan Little
Mathieu Perreault -- Andrew Copp -- Jack Roslovic
Nathan Beaulieu -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Dustin Byfuglien
Dmitry Kulikov -- Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Scratched:Matt Hendricks, Bogdan Kiselevich, Joe Morrow, Sami Niku
Injured: Laurent Brossoit (lower body), Josh Morrissey (upper body), Brandon Tanev (hand)

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Status report

Jets coach Paul Maurice said Tanev will fly home to be re-evaluated; he injured in a 5-1 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. ... Rantanen skated and stickhandled wearing a non-contact jersey before the morning skate but will miss his sixth straight game. There is no timetable for his return, Bednar said.

Stat pack

Wheeler has two assists in his past eight games after having 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in his previous 13 games. … Kerfoot has eight points (four goals, four assists) in a six-game point streak. … MacKinnon has six points (three goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.