Maybe Peter Forsberg's presence at the Pepsi Center tonight will inspire the Avalanche when they face the Washington Capitals in search of their third win in a row.

The former Avalanche star, who will be in attendance three days after his induction in the Hockey Hall of Fame, will watch a team that has won two games in a row for the first time this season and sits sixth in the Central Divison with a 6-8-5 record.

Unlike last season, the Avalanche aren't spending much time studying the standings these days. They were 14-5-0 through 19 games last year.

"I won't lie to you, I was looking more at the standings last year than this year," coach Patrick Roy said this morning. "You know what? We have a different approach than last time. We play Washington tonight and we want to focus on Washington. Let's play tonight and put all our energy on Washington, focus on them."

The Avalanche would reach the .500 mark for the first time this season if they can handle the Capitals (8-7-3) tonight and Carolina (6-9-3) on Saturday. Counting tonight, they'll play five of six games at home, where they have a 3-3-2 record.

Reto Berra will start in goal as Semyon Varlamov recovers from his second groin injury of the season. This will be his first game against Washington. Calvin Pickard will be the backup.

Rookie forward Dennis Everberg, a healthy scratch the past two games, will replace Jamie McGinn (back injury) on the third line with Nathan MacKinnon and Daniel Briere. McGinn didn't skate for the third consecutive day.

The Capitals are 1-1-0 in the first two games of their three-game road trip. Goalie Braden Holtby will start; he's allowed two goals or fewer in his past four starts. Left wing Alex Ovechkin has eight goals and eight assists, but he's gone four games without a goal and three games without a point. Ovechkin skates on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson.

"Alex is a streaky guy," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said this morning. "Once he gets going, he can score 10 goals in five games."

Trotz is wary of the Avalanche's speed. and he's very familiar with Colorado, having spent the previous 15 seasons coaching Nashville.

"They're quick," he said. "Really up the middle they're really quick. Obviously (Matt) Duchene has lightning-quick speed and MacKinnon can dart. On the back end they've got some guys who can really get up the ice in (Tyson) Barrie and (Erik) Johnson. They play a fast game. They played a high octane game last year and were hard to catch. They have a lot of game breakers who keep you on your toes every night."

Here's the Avalanche lineup:

FORWARDS
Ryan O'Reilly - Matt Duchene - Alex Tanguay
Gabriel Landeskog - John Mitchell - Jarome Iginla
Dennis Everberg - Nathan MacKinnon - Daniel Briere
Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Max Talbot

DEFENSEMEN
Jan Hejda - Erik Johnson
Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie
Nick Holden - Zach Redmond

GOALIES
Reto Berra
Calvin Pickard



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