Panthers at Avalanche preview

PANTHERS (12-14-5) at AVALANCHE (14-14-2)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-F, NHL.TV

Malgin left Florida's 3-2 overtime loss at the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday with an upper-body injury; he likely will play on the second line with forward Evgenii Dadonov and center Vincent Trocheck for the Panthers, 2-2-3 in their past seven games.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov will start for the Avalanche, 2-1-0 in their past three games after going 1-5-1 in their previous seven.
Colorado is 8-5-1 at home this season, but is 1-4-0 in their past five games at Pepsi Center.

Players to watch

Trocheck has nine points (three goals, six assists) in a six-game point streak, matching his NHL high. He leads the Panthers with 13 goals, and with 32 points is tied with forward Jonathan Huberdeau for the Florida scoring lead. Trocheck has five points (three goals, two assists) in five games against Colorado.
Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog will play his first home game since Nov. 25, when he cross-checked Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk and was suspended four games. Landeskog has 10 goals, one behind center Nathan MacKinnon for the Colorado lead.

They said it

"We are confident, we know how to play good. We played a pretty good game in Chicago, but we didn't get rewarded, just one point. We all played a good game and we just need to continue to do the same things." -- Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov
"This is a stretch where we have to make hay. We can set ourselves up to be in a good spot and stay in this [Stanley Cup Playoff] race. We have to take advantage of it." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on playing 12 of the next 15 games at home

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Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Evgenii Dadonov -- Vincent Trocheck -- Denis Malgin
Jamie McGinn -- Jared McCann -- Connor Brickley
Micheal Haley -- Derek MacKenzie -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Alexander Petrovic
James Reimer
Harri Sateri
Scratched: Dryden Hunt, Ian McCoshen, Radim Vrbata
Injured: Roberto Luongo (lower body)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Sven Andrighetto -- Gabriel Bourque
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie
Samuel Girard -- Mark Barberio
Anton Lindholm
Semyon Varlamov
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched: Nail Yakupov
Injured:Vladislav Kamenev (broken arm), Alex Kerfoot (foot)

Status report

The swelling in Kerfoot's foot is subsiding, but he hasn't been on the ice since he was injured in a 2-1 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday.

Stat pack

Reimer has won each of his three starts at Colorado with a 2.00 goals-against average and .938 save percentage ... The Avalanche have killed 29 of 31 penalties in the past eight games.