Nashville Predators (44-29-7, fourth in the Central) vs. Colorado Avalanche (56-18-6, first in the Central)
Denver; Thursday, 9 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Nashville comes into the matchup with Colorado after losing three in a row.
The Avalanche are 34-10-4 in conference games. Colorado averages 8.8 penalty minutes per game, the ninth-most in the Western Conference. Gabriel Landeskog leads the team serving 78 total minutes.
The Predators are 15-7-2 against the rest of their division. Nashville averages 4.8 penalties per game, the most in the league. Tanner Jeannot leads the team with 40 total penalties.
In their last meeting on Jan. 11, Nashville won 5-4. Roman Josi recorded a team-high 3 points for the Predators.
TOP PERFORMERS: Mikko Rantanen leads the Avalanche with 36 goals, adding 55 assists and totaling 91 points. Nathan MacKinnon has 14 points over the last 10 games for Colorado.
Josi leads the Predators with 71 total assists and has 93 points. Matt Duchene has five goals over the last 10 games for Nashville.
LAST 10 GAMES: Avalanche: 6-4-0, averaging 3.8 goals, 6.7 assists, 2.5 penalties and five penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game with a .910 save percentage.
Predators: 3-4-3, averaging 2.3 goals, 4.1 assists, 4.7 penalties and 12.5 penalty minutes while allowing 3.8 goals per game with an .881 save percentage.
INJURIES: Avalanche: Pavel Francouz: day to day (face), Gabriel Landeskog: out (knee), Mikko Rantanen: day to day (illness), Erik Johnson: day to day (undisclosed), Ryan Murray: out (hand/wrist).
Predators: Jeremy Lauzon: out (undisclosed).
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