The Avalanche closes out its seven-game homestand tonight against a New York Islanders team, led by John Tavares and Thomas Vanek, that has been scoring plenty of goals.
The Islanders are 16-22-7 and in last place in the Metropolitan Division, but they've won five consecutive road games and have scored 27 goals while going 5-1-0 in the past six games overall.
"They're a little ways down in the standings, but they're a team that can strike against you, they're a good offensive team," Avalanche center Matt Duchene said. "We want to play hard against them defensively. They're feeling it right now; they're a team that can score a lot of goals. They have a lot of talent offensively."
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said he hadn't decided which line he would use when Tavares and Vanek are on the ice, but defensemen Jan Hejda and Erik Johnson can expect to get plenty of ice time against them. Tavares has seven goals and eight assists in a six-game point-scoring streak, while Vanek has five goals and 10 assists in a 10-game streak.
Kevin Poulin will make his third consecutive start in goal for the Islanders, and Roy knows him well from his time in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Roy was coaching the Quebec Remparts when he once described Poulin, who was playing for the Victoriaville Tigres, as the best goalie in the league.
"We played him one year in the playoffs and he was outstanding," Roy said. "I thought he was the reason why their team beat us. I'm happy to see him have a bit of success. Unfortunately, we don't see too much about the Islanders, but he seems to be taking advantage of that opportunity."
Poulin was in net Jan. 8, 2011 at the Pepsi Center when the Islanders beat the Avalanche 4-3 in overtime. He has a 7-12-0 record this season with a 3.24 goals-against average and .891 save percentage, and he's allowed nine goals in a three-game winning streak.
Semyon Varlamov will start in goal against the Islanders and again on Saturday when the Avalanche opens a two-game trip in Minnesota. He's 7-0-4 in his past 12 games -- 11 starts -- with a 2.21 goals-against average and .934 save percentage
The Avalanche has gone 4-1-1 in the first six games of the homestand and after Friday will play 10 of 14 games on the road before the NHL shuts down for the Olympics.
"You want to get as many points as possible when you're home, but sometimes it's tough," Duchene said. "The routine gets a little repetitious and you can be a little sluggish at times, so we have to fight through that a little bit. We want to finish this homestand strong against this team."
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Ryan O'Reilly (shoulder) and Alex Tanguay (knee, hip) took part in the morning skate Friday. O'Reilly participated in some contact drills and might play Saturday in Minnesota. "The objective was seeing how he reacts (Saturday) morning," Roy said.
Roy on Tanguay: "So far he's doing good and we're very happy with the progress. Next week he's going to push harder and we'll have a better idea."
Defenseman Nate Guenin (ankle) will miss his third game in a row.
The Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Nathan MacKinnon -- Matt Duchene -- Jamie McGinn Gabriel Landeskog -- Paul Stastny -- John Mitchell Cody McLeod -- Marc-Andre Cliche -- Max Talbot David Van Der Gulik -- Brad Malone -- Patrick Bordeleau
DEFENSE Erik Johnson -- Jan Hejda Andre Benoit -- Cory Sarich Nick Holden -- Tyson Barrie
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Jean-Sebastien Giguere