The Avalanche and Kings, both struggling to score, play Tuesday at the Pepsi Center without their No. 1 centers -- Matt Duchene for Colorado and Anze Kopitar for Los Angeles.
Duchene took part in the morning skate while wearing a non-contact jersey after he didn't practice Monday, his first time on the ice since sustaining a head injury Friday against Winnipeg.
"We'll see what tomorrow brings, but we're taking it day by day right now," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "Hopefully he starts feeling good this afternoon and then we'll progress him again tomorrow and we might be able to see him in some contact."
Like Duchene, Kopitar will miss his second game in a row. He has an upper-body injury and hasn't been skating. Kings coach Darryl Sutter said Kopitar is progressing and might skate Wednesday after the Kings get home from this road trip.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
The Avalanche will try some new line combinations that look like they were pulled out of a hat, though that might not be such a bad thing. They have eight goals in the past seven games, and one of those was an own goal by Winnipeg on Friday. They've already been shut out four times and are in a 3-for-25 funk on power plays.
Joe Colborne, who hasn't scored since a hat trick in the season opener against Dallas, will be the right wing on the top line with left wing Gabriel Landeskog and center Nathan MacKinnon.
"He's a guy who had 19 goals last year and we need him to start producing," Bednar said. "He had a good night the first night and has been kind of cold since."
Jarome Iginla, who has two goals in 14 games, will skate with left wing Blake Comeau and center John Mitchell. Iginla will also see time on the power play.
"He's been working hard, competing hard on the puck," Bednar said of Iginla. "A lot like most of our team right now (he's) having some struggles with the production offensively. Some games he's getting some good chances, other games not, a little like the rest of our team.
"We need to do what's right for our team. I think he can help that line produce. We need some production throughout our lineup, it can't just be our top guys. We're just trying to find some combinations that can give us a little bit of life. We need to find some secondary scoring, some primary scoring, really, at this point. We have to find something that works, we can't just leave it the way it is." Patrick Wiercioch will replace Eric Gelinas on defense and get some time on the power play.
"I think we're going to see a hungry player," Bednar said. "He's been out the past couple games. I just felt from the start of the season he's been playing real well for us, playing physical and getting shots through from the point. I thought his game dipped a little bit and we have seven D, so I pulled him out for a couple games."
Semyon Varlamov gets the start. He stopped 60 of 63 shots the past two games, 44 of 45 Sunday in the 2-0 loss to Boston.
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Jonathan Quick remains out with a lower-body injury, so former Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj is expected to start for the Kings. He spent his first six NHL seasons with Colorado from 2005-11 and ranks fourth in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history with 101 wins.
I asked Sutter about Budaj's play and got a mixed response.
"He's been solid, but we need to win games," Sutter said. "He hasn't played well enough to steal us a game in the last three or four (games). There's always points in the season where goalies do win you games by themselves."
The Kings have gone 1-2-1 in the first four games of a five-game road trip and are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss Sunday to Winnipeg. Their power play is even worse than the Avalanche's, 1-for-30 in the past nine games.
The Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Joe Colborne Rene Bourque -- Carl Soderberg -- Mikko Rantanen Blake Comeau -- John Mitchell -- Jarome Iginla Andreas Martinsen -- Mikhail Grigorenko -- Cody McLeod
DEFENSE Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson Fedor Tyutin -- Tyson Barrie Francois Beauchemin -- Patrick Wiercioch
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Calvin Pickard