Defensemen Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras will be scratched again Thursday when the Avalanche play Carolina at the Pepsi Center.
Except for Semyon Varlamov starting in goal, it'll be the same lineup they used Saturday in a 6-3 win against Chicago.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
The Avalanche (6-5-0) are 4-1-0 at home and won't play on home ice again until Nov. 16 against Washington. They leave Friday for weekend games in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, then head to Stockholm for Nov. 10-11 games against Ottawa.
"We're in a similar situation as last year at this time, so we know the importance of these games early on," Matt Duchene said after the morning skate. "We know the importance of a game like tonight."
When I told Duchene the Avalanche are more fun to watch than last season, he said, "Well, I hope so. Consistency is the biggest thing right now. We're not the type of team that can have one or two guys take the night off and still win. We need everyone pulling in the same direction every night."
Cam Ward is expected to start in goal for the Hurricanes (4-4-2), who are 0-1-1 in the past two games and 1-3-1 in five.
The Avalanche are 11-0-3 in the past 14 home games against the Hurricanes, 10-0-1 at Pepsi Center.
The lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Sven Andrighetto -- Matt Duchene -- Rocco Grimaldi Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau A.J. Greer -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Nail Yakupov
DEFENSE Anton Lindholm -- Erik Johnson Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie Andrei Mironov -- Mark Barberio
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Jonathan Bernier