Carolina @ Colorado preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 11, 2019 ) Carolina 3, Colorado 0

Carolina finished the Canadian portion of its road trip without a regulation loss and the Hurricanes look to extend their point streak to seven games when they visit the red-hot Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. The Hurricanes went 3-0-1 in Western Canada after knocking off Winnipeg 6-3 on Tuesday and complete the road swing in Denver, where the Avalanche are 10-3-2.

“We knew it was going to be a tough road trip,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters Tuesday. “It just kind of kept building. It felt like it was going to get tougher and tougher. It doesn’t get any easier (against Colorado). But I like the way the guys have played all the way through.” The Hurricanes won in Denver 3-0 last season to split the season series against the Avalanche, who earned at least a point for the 10th point in 11 games (9-1-1) with a 4-1 victory at Chicago. Center Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to six games for Colorado with a goal and right wing Mikko Rantanen continued his hot streak with a goal and an assist to give him six points in the past four contests. The Avalanche have been slowly getting healthier during their hot streak and veteran defenseman Erik Johnson (lower body) could be back in the lineup as early as Thursday after missing 11 games, while dazzling young blue liner Cale Makar (28 points, 29 games) is still day-to-day with an upper-body ailment.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS Carolinas, Altitude (Colorado)

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (21-11-2): Right wing Andrei Svechnikov scored a lacrosse-style goal for the second time this season Tuesday to maintain the team lead with 35 points. “You can’t say enough about the kid. So talented,” center Jordan Staal, who snapped a 14-game goal drought with a pair Tuesday, told reporters. “. … He does everything really, really well, and it shows. A goal like that is special and he makes it look easy.” Defenseman Dougie Hamilton (199 career assists) boasts six points in the past four games and center Sebastian Aho scored seven goals, moving within one of 100 in his career, while setting up four others in the past five games.

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (22-9-3): MacKinnon has posted three of his 21 goals and five assists during his streak and leads the team with 52 points - third in the league - and Andre Burakovsky scored his 13th goal to tie Joonas Donskoi for second on team. Rantanen owns 24 points (10 goals) in 18 games while Ian Cole registered his second multi-point game of the season Wednesday and improved to a plus-20 - second behind fellow defenseman Ryan Graves (plus-22). Philipp Grubauer (10-6-2, .912 save percentage), who saw his three-game win streak end Monday, is likely to get the start in goal after Pavel Francouz stopped 31 shots in Chicago.

OVERTIME

1. Hurricanes G Petr Mrazek is 3-0-2 with a 1.05 goals-against average and .961 save percentage lifetime versus the Avalanche.

2. Colorado D Anton Lindholm had an assist and a plus-1 rating in just over 12 minutes of his 2019-20 debut Wednesday.

3. Carolina LW Teuvo Teravainen recorded eight of his team-best 27 assists in the past five contests.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 4, Hurricanes 3