The Avalanche face Dallas on Tuesday at the Pepsi Center, the team they trail by one point for second place in the Central Division.
Philipp Grubauer will start in goal and forward
Andre Burakovsky is expected to play after missing practice Monday because of illness.
GAME NOTES
The Stars have won all three previous games between the teams this season, most recently a 3-2 shootout decision on Dec. 28 in Dallas.
“A real good team we're playing again tonight, very similar in a lot of ways to Pittsburgh, and I thought we had a pretty good game against them (a 4-3 overtime loss)," coach
Jared Bednar said after an optional morning skate.
"(Dallas’) defense helps their attack a lot, one of the best rush coverage teams in the league. Power play is really on fire right now (7-for-14), so special teams and discipline will be important tonight."
The Avalanche have lost three games in a row (0-2-1), are 3-6-2 in the past 11 games and 1-4-1 in the past six on home ice.
The Stars are coming off a 2-1 loss on Saturday to San Jose after winning their previous six in a row.
Forward
Joonas Donskoi, who is going through concussion protocol, skated in a non-contact jersey and could take part in a full contact practice Wednesday if he passes all of his tests.
"He's doing OK, skated this morning with the group after a couple days on his own and took some contact after practice, so if that goes well we can see him do his test and try and get him cleared for practice (Wednesday)," Bednar said.
The Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Andre Burakovsky -- Nazem Kadri -- Valeri Nichushkin
Matt Nieto -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Matt Calvert
Vladislav Kamenev -- J.T. Compher -- Tyson Jost
DEFENSE
Ryan Graves -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Nikita Zadorov
GOALIES
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz
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