Semyon Varlamov will make his 19th consecutive appearance (17th start), but the Avalanche will make some lineup changes for Thursday's game against Los Angeles at the Pepsi Center.

The GAME NOTES.

Jonathan Bernier, who missed five games to recover from a concussion, will be the backup, so Spencer Martin will be heading back to San Antonio.

Center Carl Soderberg is still sick and will miss his second game in a row. Vladislav Kamenev will take his place with Matt Nieto and Blake Comeau. Duncan Siemens will replace David Warsofsky on defense.

The Avalanche hold the first wild card playoff position in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Kings, who hold the second wild card. Colorado is two points behind Minnesota, who are in third place in the Central Division.

The Kings are two points ahead of St. Louis for the second wild card and one point behind Anaheim, who are third in the Pacific Division.

The Avalanche are 15-2-1 in the past 18 home games, while the Kings are 5-0-2 in their past seven on the road.

"If we can continue to take care of our games we won't have to scoreboard watch," defenseman Erik Johnson said. "Every game from here on in has a lot of importance. It doesn't really matter who we're playing, we have to find a way to find a way to get points. It's kind of like our playoffs before the playoffs."

The Avalanche lineup:

FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Sven Andrighetto
Matt Nieto -- Vladislav Kamenev -- Blake Comeau
Colin Wilson -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Gabriel Bourque

DEFENSE
Patrik Nemeth -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Duncan Siemens -- Samuel Girard

GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Jonathan Bernier



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