DENVER – The Blue Jackets didn't get a win to open the season, but left Minnesota feeling good about their performance.

The goal now is to improve their puck handling while aiming for a win against Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at Ball Arena. It's the Avs' home opener and they're looking for their first win after an 8-4 loss in the season opener on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Daniil Tarasov will start in net for the Blue Jackets, while Alexandar Georgiev (0-1-0) plays for the Avalanche. Colorado doesn't have four top-six forwards, but the Avalanche (0-1-0) still score a ton of goals. This isn't a team the Blue Jackets can afford to give up on strange offenses as often as they did in Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

This will be an even bigger challenge for the Blue Jackets (0-1-0), who are dealing with injury issues on offense themselves. Follow the Rockies for live updates before, during and after the Jackets' first “CBJ After Dark” performance of the season.

Columbus Blue Jackets lineups and starters vs. Colorado Avalanche

Here are the active lineups for each team, starters (in bold), scratches, coaches and officials.

Daniil Tarasov makes his first start of the season for the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Colorado Avalanche

Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason told reporters at the end of his morning press conference that his lineup against the Avalanche would be the same as it was in Minnesota, with one notable exception.

Elvis Merzlikins, who started the season opener against the Wild, would assume the backup role at Ball Arena while Daniil Tarasov makes his season debut in the team's second game. Merzlikins surpassed Tarasov in the preseason and was solid with 23 saves in Minnesota, so the decision was somewhat surprising. However, Tarasov defeated the Avalanche in April of last season, splitting the two-game season series.

During the preseason, Merzlikins and Tarasov each made three starts. Tarasov started more often in games with more AHL players, while Merzlikins was predominantly on the NHL roster. However, their numbers were completely different. Merzlikins went 2-1-0 with a 1.91 goals-against average and .932 save percentage, while Tarasov went 1-2-0 with a 4.99 GAA and .809 save percentage, allowing 13 of 27 goals, which the Blue Jackets allowed a total team in eight exhibition games.

The Columbus Blue Jackets want to reduce the rush of odd players

Overall, the Blue Jackets were pleased with their performance in the season opener on Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center. Although they narrowly lost 3-2, they dominated possession of the puck and two of their top three forwards controlled the game for most of the evening.

However, there were a few glaring problems. The Jackets' aggressiveness on offense led the Wild to resort to odd counterattacks, including a few breakaways. There were also some problems within their own blue line, especially with Joel Eriksson Ek's goal in the second period. Adam Fantilli rolled a puck along the wall near the left dot and the Wild pounced on it, executing a tic-tac-toe play that resulted in the goal and a 2-1 lead.

Elvis Merzlikins took care of the oddball breakaways and rushes with high-level saves, but the Blue Jackets don't want to put their goaltenders in as many of those situations in the future – especially against the Avs.

“We had a video session (Saturday) on some things in our defensive zone, and there were probably things in all three zones that we just wanted to improve,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “Nothing major and to be honest, the mistakes we made were pretty aggressive mistakes that we asked the group to make… and we understand that there will be mistakes that will happen and end up in our net. We just need to limit them a little better.”

Where can I find the TV/radio broadcast of the Columbus Blue Jackets vs. the Colorado Avalanche?

Tonight's game will be broadcast by Bally Sports Ohio, with Steve Mears playing the individual plays and Jody Shelley providing in-game analysis. Pregame and postgame shows round out the production.

Bob McGelligott will broadcast the game on radio, which can be heard on Blue Jackets Radio Network stations throughout Ohio and parts of West Virginia. Locally in Columbus, the game will be broadcast on the team's flagship alternative station, 93.3 FM The Bus.

Scheduled lineup for the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Colorado Avalanche

Forward

Yegor Chinakhov – Sean Monahan – Kirill Marchenko

James van Riemsdryk – Adam Fantilli – Kevin Labanc

Mikael Pyyhtia – Cole Sillinger – Kent Johnson

Zach Aston-Reese – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier

Defense pairings

Zach Werenski – Ivan Provorov

Jake Christiansen-Damon Severson

Jack Johnson-Erik Gudbranson

goalkeeper

Daniil Tarasov

Elvis Merzlikins

Scratched: D Jordan Harris, D David Jiricek, F Dylan Gambrell

Injured: F Boone Jenner (shoulder surgery), F Dmitry Voronkov (upper body), F Justin Danforth (wrist), F Gavin Brindley (broken finger)

Projected Colorado Avalanche vs. Columbus Blue Jackets lineup

Forward

Nikolai Kovalenko – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Ross Colton – Casey Mittelstadt – Calum Ritchie

Miles Wood – Parker Kelly – Logan O'Connor

Ivan Ivan – Chris Wagner – Joel Kiviranta

defense pairings

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Samuel Girard-Josh Manson

Calvin de Haan – Sam Malinski

goalkeeper

Alexandra Georgiev

Justus Annunen

Scratched: F Jonathan Drouin (upper body), D John Ludvig, D Oliver Kylington, G Kaapo Kahkonen

Injured reserve/not active: F Gabriel Landeskog (knee), F Valeri Nichushkin (NHL/NHLPA program), F Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), D Tucker Poolman (unknown)

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@BrianHedger

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Avalanche: Game updates, live NHL scores