Winless on a five-game homestand that ended Saturday, the Avalanche (9-13-1) open a four-game road trip Tuesday in Nashville. They're a respectable 5-5-0 on the road.
The Predators (11-9-4) are 0-1-1 in the first two games of a three-game homestand, but they've already beaten the Avalanche twice in Denver and are 8-2-2 at home for the season.
Here are the
GAME NOTES.
Coach
Jared Bednar is juggling line combinations again in an attempt to extract some offense from a team that is averaging 2.1 goals per game and already has been shut out five times. The Avalanche have scored first six times and are 4-2-0 in those games. The Predators are 7-0-3 when scoring first.
Interesting that
John Mitchell, who cleared waivers a month ago and doesn't have a point in 18 games, will center a line with
Mikko Rantanen and
Matt Duchene.
"Mitchell's been playing real well for us, he's been kept off the board from a production standpoint and we're trying to get some lines together here that can spark some of our offense," Bednar told reporters. "He's been a good possession guy for us in the offensive zone, he's protecting pucks and making plays every night, so to get him with a couple of dangerous guys like Rantanen and Duchene, I think can hopefully help all three of them."
Captain
Gabriel Landeskog took part in the morning skate but will miss his ninth game with a lower-body injury. Defenseman
Fedor Tyutin also skated and will miss his second game with a lower-body injury.
"They're getting close," Bednar said. "I expect them both full contact in (practice Wednesday)."
Semyon Varlamov gets the start against the Predators.
Inconsistency from one period to the next has been one factor in the Avalanche's NHL-worst 19 points.
"Part of the reason we're going through this, and we're neck deep in it right now, is because it's something different beating us every night," Bednar said. "It's not the same thing. You cure one thing and get better at it and something else pops up. We talked about guys not playing their best, we have a handful of guys not play good one night and then they play good the next, and another handful don't.
"We're lacking that unity, that consistency, that togetherness that you need in order to win a hockey game. And we're not getting any breaks either. Our execution is poor early in the game and that leads to a routine shot on net and next thing you know it's going in off our skate in front of the net. We have to be better in our execution and put 60 minutes together."
The lineup:
FORWARDS
Blake Comeau --Nathan MacKinnon -- Rene Bourque
Mikko Rantanen -- John Mitchell -- Matt Duchene
Mikhail Grigorenko -- Carl Soderberg -- Jarome Iginla
Cody McLeod -- Joe Colborne -- Andreas Martinsen
DEFENSE
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Eric Gelinas -- Patrick Wiercioch
Francois Beauchemin -- Cody Goloubef
GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Calvin Pickard
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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