Calvin Pickard will be in goal Tuesday, and he may have to toss a shutout against Arizona at the Pepsi Center the way the Avalanche have been scoring -- or not scoring.
But first, Joe Sakic, Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny remembered former Avalanche forward MAREK SVATOS. There's still no official cause for his passing.
The Douglas County Coroner's Office completed its autopsy, but coroner Jill Romann told the Denver Post that more tests are needed, including the examination of tissue, toxicology and other exams. If any of those tests suggest possible brain damage, Romann said, a neuropathologist could be called in.
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Here are the GAME NOTES for Tuesday's game.
The Avalanche have six goals in the past six games, and half of them came Oct. 29 in a 3-2 win in Arizona when Pickard made 24 saves. He's gone 3-0-0 this season with a 1.50 goals-against average and .946 save percentage.
It sure seems like the No. 1 goalie position is up for grabs the way Pickard and Semyon Varlamov are playing. Varlamov has allowed 20 goals in five consecutive losses and owns a 2-6-0 record with a 3.67 goals-against average and .881 save percentage.
As for the Avalanche's offensive woes:
"We've had a ton of chances, a lot of good ones every game and we just have to start finishing," said Nathan MacKinnon, who has gone 10 games without a goal since the opener against Dallas. "It's going to come. We've run into some really good goaltenders. Hopefully our luck will change and we'll get a couple lucky ones tonight."
MacKinnon isn't the only one in a slump. Tyson Barrie hasn't scored a goal since the opener; Mikhail Grigorenko, Erik Johnson, Mikko Rantanen and Nikita Zadorov have yet to score a goal; Joe Colborne has one assist since his opening hat trick; Jarome Iginla has one goal in the past nine games; Blake Comeau, who has a groin injury and won't play Tuesday, has one goal; Carl Soderberg doesn't have a point in the past six games; Gabriel Landeskog's goal Saturday in the 1-0 win against Minnesota is his only goal in the past nine games.
"We have a handful of guys that you could call them snake bit, you could call them frustrated offensively," coach Jared Bednar said. "If you look at the scoring chances in our first 10-game segment, the number of chances that we're producing, we should have more goals than we do. I do think the key to it is to come with a new mindset every day, that you're going to continually do the right things and eventually those things will sort themselves out.
"Goal scorers get into streaks where they score goals in bunches and then sometimes they cool off a little bit. There's no better example, probably, than Mikko Rantanen. He's been exceptional in the time he's been here both offensively and defensively, and he carries the play a lot in the offensive zone and does a lot of good things and hasn't found a way to find the back of the net.
"I think once these guys find a way to score a goal or two, things can open up for them."
Then there's Matt Duchene, who has six goals and four assists in the past eight games.
The Avalanche have killed 27 of 30 penalties in the past eight games, but they're 3-for-32 on power plays in the past nine.
Here's the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Mikko Rantanen -- Matt Duchene -- Nathan MacKinnon Gabriel Landeskog -- Carl Soderberg -- Jarome Iginla Joe Colborne -- Mikhail Grigorenko-- Rene Bourque Andreas Martinsen -- John Mitchell -- Cody McLeod
DEFENSE Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson Fedor Tyutin -- Tyson Barrie Francois Beauchemin -- Patrick Wiercioch
GOALIES Calvin Pickard Semyon Varlamov