First-place Avalanche?
It could happen Friday if they can defeat the St. Louis Blues at the Pepsi Center.
The Avalanche, who have won six games in a row, trail Western Conference- and Central Division-leading Nashville by one point with a game in hand and would take over the top spot with a win against the Blues.
The Avalanche, who are 8-0-1 in their past nine games, are 15-6-4 overall for 34 points. The Predators are 17-8-1 for 35 points and have played one more game. They lost 3-0 to Arizona at home on Thursday.
“Our goal is to be playing our best hockey and try to sustain that as long as we possibly can and continue to grow through the season,… coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate. “I do want our guys focused on trying to get first place, and if we can get there to maintain it. I think that’s a good healthy goal for our team, especially with the way we’re playing right now.
“I like what we’ve been doing here recently. I think it’s good to set your sights at something that’s achievable. We should be looking up the ladder, not down. It’s something we’ve talked about and our guys are excited for it. Hopefully we can continue to play the way we’re playing here.…
The Avalanche will have a couple of lineup changes.
Semyon Varlamov will start in goal and defenseman Mark Alt was called up from the AHL Colorado Eagles to replace Mark Barberio, who has an upper-body injury. Tyson Barrie remains out with a lower-body injury.
Forward Sheldon Dries was sent to the Eagles to make room for the 6-feet-4, 201-pound Alt, who played seven games with the Avalanche last season after being claimed on waivers from Philadelphia.
Alt, who is the Eagles captain, had four assists in 19 games with the Eagles.
Forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen can become the third set of teammates since 1988-89 with simultaneous multipoint streaks of at least seven games.
MacKinnon has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in a six-game streak. Rantanen has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in a six-game streak.
Varlamov has won five straight starts with a 2.21 goals-against average and .928 save percentage.
The Avalanche lineup:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Tyson Jost -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Colin Wilson Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert Sven Andrighetto – Vladislav Kamenev -- J.T. Compher
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson Ian Cole – Nikita Zadorov Patrik Nemeth – Mark Alt
Semyon Varlamov Philipp Grubauer