Colorado @ Anaheim preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 26, 2019 ) Anaheim 5, Colorado 2

Some key injuries have piled up for the Colorado Avalanche, who are waging a three-team battle with Dallas and defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis for the top spot in the Central Division. The Avalanche also will be tested by a rugged upcoming schedule with eight of their next 10 on the road, beginning with Friday's clash at the Anaheim Ducks.

Colorado ended a three-game slide at the Pepsi Center with a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday to salvage a 2-2-1 homestand. “We needed to get back on the winning side of things," said captain Gabriel Landeskog, who scored in the latest victory. "The homestand has been a little bit up and down, and we found ways to lose games.” While the Avalanche have struggled at home, they take a four-game road winning streak into the matchup in Anaheim, which has lost three of four after dropping a 4-1 decision to Florida on Tuesday in the opener of a six-game homestand. "There were some things we did well, but we shot ourselves in the foot again on a couple of mistakes," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "We can't afford those kinds of mistakes."

TIME: 10 p.m. ET. TV: Prime Ticket, Altitude 2

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (34-18-7): Injuries have shelved goaltender Philipp Grubauer along with forwards Mikko Rantanen, Nazem Kadri and Matt Calvert, but Nathan MacKinnon collected two assists for his fourth multi-point game in the last five. MacKinnon set up Joonas Donskoi's career-best 15th goal before picking up an assist when Andre Burakovsky reached 20 goals for the first time in his career. "I have been having a lot of fun this year, and hopefully we are able to go far this year," Donskoi said after ending a 12-game drought.

ABOUT THE DUCKS (24-29-7): Ondrej Kase, out since taking an elbow to the head from Toronto's Jake Muzzin on Feb. 7, joined his teammates at practice in a non-contact jersey and is nearing a return. “If they’re skating, they’re getting very close," said Eakins, adding that Kase will need to participate in a full-contact practice. "He looked great out there. I talked to him and he felt great, so that’s a great sign.” Defenseman Cam Fowler sat out Wednesday's game due to a lower-body injury and also missed practice Thursday.

OVERTIME

1. MacKinnon joined Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg as the only players with 50 assists in three straight seasons since the franchise relocated to Denver.

2. Anaheim has won three straight in the series, including a 5-2 victory at Colorado on Oct. 26.

3. Avalanche D Cale Makar had two assists to set a franchise record for rookie defensemen with 33

PREDICTION: Avalanche 3, Ducks 2