Two high-scoring lines will be on the Pepsi Center ice Wednesday when the Avalanche and Boston Bruins meet.
The Avalanche’s top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen has combined for 69 points (28 goals, 41 assists) in the first 17 games.
The Bruins counter with a line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, which has accounted for 68 points (31 goals, 37 assists) in 17 games.
The GAME NOTES.
“It’s going to be a big matchup for us if we play against that line,… Rantanen said after the morning skate. “We have to be ready to battle. We can’t play (offensive) zone all the time, we have to defend against those guys too. It’s going to be a fun game.…
Four of the six players rank in the top five among NHL scorers.
Rantanen (26 points) is tied with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid for the league lead; Bergeron (25 points) is third; MacKinnon (24 points) is fourth; and Pastrnak (23 points) is tied for fifth and leads all goal scorers with 16.
“Every time you go up against top players in the league, it's a lot of respect," MacKinnon said. "Those guys have been doing it for a long time. I guess Pastrnak is new, a few years in the league, but Bergeron and Marchand, they won a (Stanley) Cup together, they're two (future) Hall of Famers."
Coach Jared Bednar will have the last change as the Avalanche play their seventh home game of the season; he hasn’t been reluctant to play the MacKinnon line against an opponent's top line.
"It is not our line against their line, it's the Colorado Avalanche against the Boston Bruins,… he said. “Everyone else has a factor in the game as well. There are a bunch of matchups that we want to win, and that just happens to be one of them. The amount that both of those lines play, 20-plus minutes a night, they'll be on the ice a lot."
Semyon Varlamov will make his fourth consecutive start in goal. He made 26 saves Sunday when the Avalanche won 4-1 in Edmonton to end a five-game (0-4-1) losing streak.
Injured forwards Sven Andrighetto (lower body) and J.T. Compher (head) took part in the morning skate and might go on the three-game road trip that begins Sunday in Anaheim.
The Avalanche lineup:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Tyson Jost -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Colin Wilson Sheldon Dries -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert Matt Nieto -- Vladislav Kamenev – Gabriel Bourque
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie Nikita Zadorov – Mark Barberio
Semyon Varlamov Philipp Grubauer