PLAYERS THRILLED TO SEE CURRY SHINE

Several Avalanche players— including Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Gabe Landeskog and Andrew Bodnarchuk— attended the Nuggets- Warriors game Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center.

MacKinnon, who played hoops growing up in Nova Scotia, and fancies himself as having a pretty good fadeaway jumper, especially was giddy about getting to see reigning NBAMVP Stephen Curry play.

“I was courtside,” he said. “I thought one of the coolest parts of the game was the warm- up, just watching Steph shoot it. It was pretty cool watching Steph pull up from like 35 feet and drain it. That was unbelievable. It definitely was the coolest sports events I’ve been to in my life, for sure.”

Said Duchene: “Itwas awesome. Obviously, some basketball games are hit and miss, but that one last nightwas great. Curry was unbelievable and the Nuggets played a heck of a game.”

Duchene said he played basketball “when I was younger, elementary school. I’m not very good at it now. I was decent when I was younger. I’m bad now. I could never shoot and still probably can’t. I was usually a dishing point guard.”

Duchene said he has scouted MacKinnon’s hoops game.

“I think he thinks he’s better than he is,” Duchene said, smiling. “I’ve seen it firsthand. I was disappointed. I was let down a little bit.”

Youth be served.

Could Mikka Rantanen be next?

Coach Patrick Roy acknowledged that the Avs considered recalling the 19- year- old Finnish winger from San Antonio in conjunction with bringing up defensemen Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras, both 20, from the Rampage on Wednesday.

But Roy noted that Rantanen has a minor hand injury, ruling out a promotion for the moment. Rantanen served as captain of Finland’s gold medal team at the World Junior Championship, which ended Jan. 5, and the Avalanche’s 2015 firstround draft choice hasn’t played for the Rampage since.

“There’s some forwards that we’re not necessarily happy with,” Roy said. “It was part of our conversation. We didn’t just talk about our D, we talked about the entire team.”

What about when Rantanen recovers?

“We’ll see how it goes tonight and we’ll make decisions down the road,” Roy said.