Colorado has won its last four and Florida has won its last six coming into a matinee matchup at Ball Arena.

The Avalanche are feeling positive and ready to take on the Florida Panthers who have won their last six games. 

Colorado will be down a key defenseman in Bowen Byram and recalled forward Ben Meyers from the Colorado Eagles on Friday. 

Nathan MacKinnon could extend his home point streak that has been going since the season started — at least a point in all 20 games at Ball Arena thus far. 

Colorado has also won its last seven straight home games — the Edmonton Oilers have one more than that to hold the longest home-winning streak this season (Nov. 13 - Dec. 12).

The Avs are coming off a pivotal 5-4 overtime win against Central Division rival Dallas Stars who are four points behind in the division. MacKinnon scored the game-winner in overtime, his second in a row. 

“We were going toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league, that’s all you can really ask for," MacKinnon said. "We aren’t going to dominate a top team for a whole game, so it’s good to win this type of game.”

The 28-year-old elite forward has tallied 43 points at home and is tied with Tampa Bay Lightning forward NIkita Kucherov for most points in the league at 64. 

This is the first of two matchups between the teams — they meet again in Florida on Feb. 10. They split the series last season with each winning on the road. 

The Cats may be missing Aleksander Barkov and former Avs forward Evan Rodrigues — both left with injuries against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night. 

"Sometimes playing the top opponents in the league draws the best out of your team. It's gonna be tough, no question ...," head coach Jared Bednar said after practice on Friday. "So tomorrow's really just another game but certainly we know that we're gonna have to play really well in order to beat Florida." 

Projected lineup

There was no morning skate due to the early start and Friday's practice was optional. Although both goalies were working with goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila on the ice, it's unknown who will start. My assumption is it will be Ivan Prosvetov as Alexandar Georgiev has faced consecutive overtime games and started the last nine. 

Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Miles Wood — Ryan Johansen — Valeri Nichushkin
Ben Meyers — Ross Colton — Logan O’Connor
Andrew Cogliano — Fredrik Olofsson — Joel Kiviranta

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Jack Johnson — Caleb Jones

Ivan Prosvetov
Alexandar Georgiev

The puck drops at Ball Arena at 2 p.m.

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