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The Avalanche will be without captain Gabriel Landeskog for tonight's game against the Nashville Predators because of a leg injury he sustained in Wednesday's season opener against Anaheim.

Not sure how he got hurt, but coach Patrick Roy said Landeskog is day to day -- aren't we all? -- and should be able to start skating Sunday. My guess is the Avalanche won't practice Saturday with three days before the next game, Tuesday in Toronto, to open a three-game trip.

Roy said Landeskog would accompany the team on the trip, which includes games in Boston and Washington.

John Mitchell, who centered the fourth line against the Ducks, will replace Landeskog at left wing on a line with Paul Stastny and Alex Tanguay. Marc-Andre Cliche will center the fourth line with Cody McLeod and Patrick Bordeleau.

Roy said he didn't know how Landeskog was injured. "I know that he came to the bench at some point and talked to our trainer about the leg, that something was wrong with his leg," Roy said. "But he kept going and this morning he mentioned that he's feeling so much better. I think it's very positive."

Mitchell, who scored a goal against the Ducks, is one of the Avalanche's more versatile forwards.

"I've played fourth-line center and first-line left wing and right wing," said Mitchell, who scored 10 goals last year. "I did quite a bit of it last year when I got moved around and played different forward positions. I feel comfortable in all three of them. It's not a big deal to me."

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Nathan MacKinnon, the first pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, will renew his rivalry with Predators defenseman Seth Jones, who was the fourth pick. They're close friends and played against each other in last year's Memorial Cup, where MacKinnon's Halifax Mooseheads defeated Jones' Portland Winterhawks to win the championship.

"I think junior is over," MacKinnon said. "The Memorial Cup was fun against him, but it's the NHL now and it's a new beginning. I don't know about a rivalry, or whatever it is, but it's going to be fun to play against him. He's probably the best rookie 'D' in the league right now."

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The Predators didn't skate Friday morning after losing 4-2 in St. Louis on Thursday night, and Roy is expecting a tough game tonight.

"Nashville is a team that works really hard," he said. "That's the thing that I saw last night. They're going to compete, they're going to backcheck, they work hard. If we want to beat them tonight we're going to have to make sure that we match that. If you don't match them the way they've been working, it's going to be a battle.

"They were down 3-0 in the first (period). They have great coaching and I expect them to have a great start. We're going to have to be ready for the start of the game. The key in that game is how we're going to start the game."

*****

Here's the Avalanche lineup for tonight:

Ryan O'Reilly -- Matt Duchene -- Steve Downie
John Mitchell -- Paul Stastny -- Alex Tanguay
Jamie McGinn -- Nathan MacKinnon -- P.A. Parenteau
Cody McLeod -- Marc-Andre Cliche -- Patrick Bordeleau

Jan Hejda -- Erik Johnson
Andre Benoit -- Cory Sarich
Tyson Barrie-Nate Guenin

Seymon Varlamov
Jean-Sebastien Giguere

Injured: Gabriel Landeskog (leg), Ryan Wilson (knee)
Scratches: Nick Holden, Matt Hunwick


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