The Avalanche will take a six-game home losing streak (0-5-1) into the Pepsi Center to face Florida on Friday.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
"We just need to get a win here and hopefully it starts rolling," center Nathan MacKinnon said after the morning skate. "We need to get points here, we're in last place in the league. It's tough, it wears on you. We're not miserable or anything, we're trying to stay positive.
"When you're losing this much, it's never fun. Hopefully we can dominate tonight, be ready to go early."
The Avalanche (11-16-1) have been outscored 34-15 in first periods.
The Panthers (13-13-5) are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss Thursday in Winnipeg. They're 0-1-1 in the first two games of a three-game road trip, 0-2-3 in the past five road games and 1-3-3 in the past seven overall.
Jaromir Jagr is three points behind Mark Messier (1,887) for second place on the all-time scoring list. He is six assists behind Paul Coffey (1,135) for fifth place.
At 44, Jagr is 13 days older than Avalanche coach Jared Bednar.
"It is remarkable, no question," Bednar said. "It's incredible what he's able to do, especially at this age."
Goalie Roberto Luongo needs one win to tie Terry Sawchuk (447) for fifth on the career list, but he played Thursday and hasn't played both ends of a back-to-back set this season, so James Reimer is expected to start.
Reimer is 4-0-1 in five career games against the Avalanche with a 2.40 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
Calvin Pickard will make his second consecutive start for the Avalanche as Semyon Varlamov recovers from a groin injury.
Varlamov faced a limited number of shots at the morning skate and is scheduled to take part in a full practice Saturday. If all goes well, he'll travel for the two-game trip that starts Sunday afternoon in Winnipeg, and he could play Tuesday in Minnesota.
"We’re expecting him at this point to be able to make the trip," Bednar said. "Sunday’s an early game and we’ll have to talk to the trainers about what he looks like for Sunday. If he practices tomorrow and maybe gets on the ice Sunday, then maybe be ready for Minny. We’ll just have to evaluate.…
Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Rene Bourque Mikhail Grigorenko -- Matt Duchene -- Mikko Rantanen Blake Comeau -- John Mitchell -- Jarome Iginla Andreas Martinsen -- Carl Soderberg -- Cody McLeod
DEFENSE Fedor Tyutin -- Tyson Barrie Eric Gelinas -- Francois Beauchemin Nikita Zadorov -- Patrick Wiercioch
GOALIES Calvin Pickard Spencer Martin