Goalie Reto Berra will make his seventh consecutive start Saturday night and the Avalanche will have some new line combinations when they play Washington in the sixth game of their seven-game road trip.
Here are the game notes.
The biggest change: The Denver Post reported that Mikhail Grigorenko has been promoted from third-line left wing to second-line center. He'll skate with Andreas Martinsen and Jarome Iginla. Grigorenko has a goal and four assists in the first five games of the trip.
The Avalanche (7-11-1, 5-6-0 on the road) have lost two games in a row and desperately need to start getting some production from forwards other than Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, who have combined for eight goals and eight assists on the trip, with 13 goals and 12 assists in the past nine games.
Carl Soderberg has gone three games without a point, with one goal and three assists in the past nine games. Iginla has one goal and three assists in seven games. Gabriel Landeskog has no goals and six assists in nine games. Blake Comeau, who had 16 goals for Pittsburgh last season, has one goal and four assists in 19 games this year.
John Mitchell (oblique injury) will be out for the seventh time in the past nine games. Goalie Semyon Varlamov (groin) is still on injured reserve, but he's been practicing and could be activated for Monday's game in Winnipeg.
Here's the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Matt Duchene Andreas Martinsen - Mikhail Grigorenko - Jarome Iginla Cody McLeod - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau Dennis Everberg - Chris Wagner - Jack Skille
DEFENSE Francois Beauchemin - Erik Johnson Nick Holden - Tyson Barrie Brandon Gormley - Zach Redmond
GOALIES Reto Berra Calvin Pickard
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The Capitals (12-5-1, 6-3-1 at home), of course, are led by Alex Ovechkin. He scored his 484th career goal Thursday against Dallas to pass Sergei Fedorov for the most goals by a Russian-born player in NHL history. Ovechkin has three goals and three assists in 10 career games against the Avalanche.
Braden Holtby will be in goal. He's tied for the NHL lead in wins (10) and is fourth in goals-against average (1.94). His career record on Saturdays: 31-11-5, eight shutouts, 2.09 average, .928 save percentage. He has a 2-1-0 record against the Avalanche with a 2.33 average and .929 save percentage.