The Avalanche take a seven-game winning streak into Wednesday’s game against Anaheim at the Pepsi Center.
They have tied an NHL record by winning six in a row by one goal.
Pavel Francouz, who’s won six in a row, will be in goal. He has a 1.32 goals-against average and .957 save percentage in his streak.
“We have five, six key guys out now and we’re finding ways to win,… Nathan MacKinnon said after the morning skate. “We’re one of the best offensive and defensive teams in the league; that’s a pretty good recipe.
“With how deep we are we feel like every line we have matches up well with the other team. We got guys who were called up who are playing real well too. They’ve been scoring some goals for us, so it’s been great to see.…
Defenseman Cale Makar will miss his second game in a row with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day, coach Jared Bednar said. Forward Andre Burakovsky (upper body/lower body) will miss his third in a row and is likely to miss “a couple more,… Bednar said.
Three injured players -- goalie Philipp Grubauer and forwards Nazem Kadri and Mikko Rantanen -- were on the ice wearing non-contact jerseys before the morning skate. Bednar said they remain week-to-week but are expected to return before the end of the regular season.
The projected lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Vladislav Namestnikov Matt Nieto -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi Valeri Nichushkin -- Tyson Jost -- Martin Kaut Vladislav Kamenev -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Logan O'Connor
DEFENSE Samuel Girard -- Ryan Graves Ian Cole -- Erik Johnson Nikita Zadorov -- Mark Barberio
GOALIES Pavel Francouz Michael Hutchinson