The Avalanche will meet a battered Dallas Stars team Saturday at the Pepsi Center as they attempt to end a losing streak that has reached four games.
Here are the game notes.
The Stars lost star center Tyler Seguin to a knee injury and two other forwards, Patrick Eaves (concussion) and Ales Hemsky (lower body injury) in Friday's 2-0 win against Florida. Another forward, Antoine Roussel, will complete a two-game suspension for cross-checking Boston's Adam McQuaid on Tuesday.
Stars GM Jim Nill said Saturday that Seguin could miss 3-6 weeks after a hit by Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who has been offered an in-house disciplinary hearing by the NHL. Seguin is the league's third-leading scorer with 29 goals and 59 points in 55 games.
Stars coach Lindy Ruff said the hit was "a dirty, low play ... he took out one of the best players in the league."
The Stars, who have won three games in a row, recalled forwards Travis Morin and Brett Ritchie from the Texas Stars in the AHL and they'll play against the Avalanche.
Goalie Jhonas Enroth, who was acquired Thursday from Buffalo, will make his Stars debut. The Avalanche won the three previous meetings between the teams.
"We haven't had a lot of luck here and maybe he can help us get a win," Ruff said.
As for the Avalanche, coach Patrick Roy is switching lines again. Max Talbot will take Alex Tanguay's spot at left wing with Matt Duchene and Jarome Iginla, with Tanguay moving to a unit with John Mitchell and Dennis Everberg. The Gabriel Landeskog-Ryan O'Reilly-Nathan MacKinnon line remains intact.
Paul Carey, recalled Friday from Lake Erie, will play right wing on the fourth line with Cody McLeod and Marc-Andre Cliche, who was a healthy scratch Thursday against the Rangers. Daniel Briere and Stefan Elliott are the scratches.
Semyon Varlamov starts again in goal.
"A lot of people are counting us out (of the playoff race), but I think we can win some games against teams that are competing against us because we have a lot of them coming up," Duchene said. "Those are big games and you never know what can happen. "We're still in it."
As for the power play, which is 0-for-31 in 10 games, Duchene said:
"It's a work in progress and we've had some good looks, we've had some chances. It hasn't been as clean as we like it, but we're still working on it. Eventually it's going to break. We've said that a lot, but we have to stick with it and stay positive and get better every day with it."
While nearly all of the Avalanche's top forwards enjoyed career years, or close to career years last season, it's been just the opposite this season.
"I feel like it's going to be impossible to have a full season like this again," Duchene said. "It's been a weird year. Last year where we would have put five (goals) in, this year we're scoring maybe one. But I give us a lot of credit as a group. We've learned to win other ways and it's just going to make us a better team. The offense will come back, whether it's down the stretch here, which is what we're hoping for, or whether it starts again next year.
"This group is a solid group and we have a lot of skill and we're learning to win all different ways and that's going to add up to something really nice for us. It seems like you have to work twice as hard for everything you get this year. While it sucks that we're not in a better position, I think all of us individually are learning a lot and our games are coming even further. It might be a blessing in disguise."
Here's the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Nathan MacKinnon Max Talbot - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla Alex Tanguay - John Mitchell - Dennis Everberg Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Paul Carey
DEFENSE Jan Hejda - Zach Redmond Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie Nick Holden - Brad Stuart
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Reto Berra