Oilers Gameday – @ Avalanche

The Oilers and Avalanche meet for the second time this season, and for the only time in Denver. The sides met exactly two weeks ago at Rexall Place, and will conclude their season series in Edmonton in April.

Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk gets back into the net tonight after Ilya Bryzgalov played two solid games in LA and Anaheim, while Semyon Varlamov, who gave up eight goals in Edmonton two weeks ago, is expected to start for the Av’s.

The Oilers lineup is expected to remain the same on the back-end, while defender Corey Potter serves the second of his two game suspension. He’ll be eligible to play on Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues. Forward Mark Arcobello missed practice yesterday, and will be a game-time decision for the Oilers tonight. He was hurt thanks to a Drew Doughty hit on Tuesday night.

The Oilers are looking to avoid their fourth five-game losing streak of the season tonight.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers played a decent game Tuesday night in LA, the last time they took the ice. The Oil and Kings played a mainly even first 20, but a Sam Gagner defensive mistake led to a Dwight King goal that gave the Kings the 1-0 advantage.

In the second, Ilya Bryzgalov stopped all 15 LA shots, while Edmonton finally started getting chances on Martin Jones, who stopped all 12 Oiler chances. Edmonton started bringing some push back, and nearly tied it late.

In the third, LA went into lock-down mode and suffocated the Oiler offense. The Kings got an insurance goal from Jordan Nolan with less than five minutes left, then put it away with a Dustin Brown empty netter. Martin Jones would stop all 24 Oilers shots for his third shut-out and sixth win of the season in the 3-0 decision.

Colorado: The Av’s last played on Tuesday night against Dallas in a tightly contested game. The Av’s opened the scoring just 2:37 in with a Matt Duchene PP goal, but Dallas would tie it five minutes later with a Ray Whitney tally.

In the second, the Av’s would take a lead at the 10:20 mark with an Erik Johnson goal, but Whitney would again tie it, this time on the PP, seven minutes later. The game would remain tied heading to the third.

Dan Ellis would stand tall in the third, stopping all 13 Av’s shots in the period, giving his team a chance to win the game. It was a chance his teammates wouldn’t let go to waste. Colton Sceviour would score with under three minutes to go to put Dallas up 3-2, which would be the final score.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Av’s met two weeks ago to the day at Rexall Place in a lopsided affair. The Oilers came flying out in the first, getting an early lead. Taylor Hall was sprung in on a break-away and slid it past Varlamov just over three minutes in, and the Oil wouldn’t look back.

Hall would make it 2-0 with a one-time PPG with a two-man advantage, while Ales Hemsky would make it 3-0 just 15 seconds later with a pretty goal, also on the PP.

In the second, the Av’s closed the gap to one with goals from Nick Holden and PA Parenteau, but simply couldn’t tie it. David Perron would put the game away at 12:06 with a goal from a bad angle to make it 4-2.

The Oil poured it on in the third, as Mark Arcobello, Jordan Eberle, Sam Gagner, and Taylor Hall would all find the back of the net to seal the 8-2 Oilers win, the worst Av’s loss of the season.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers forward Taylor Hall has feasted against the Colorado Avalanche in his career, evident by his four point game in the last meeting. The Av’s, like the Oilers were to Joe Sakic, seem to be an easy target for the Oilers star forward. Hall hasn’t scored in the last four games, and has the perfect chance to break that streak tonight. He’s frustrated too, and I think will have a huge night.

Colorado: Av’s forward Matt Duchene has re-emerged as one of the game’s best forwards this season. Duchene has a killer combo of both speed and skill, and has tons of confidence right now. He’s had a terrific season so far, and many think he has played his way onto Team Canada. Duchene has had some success against the Oilers before, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he were a factor tonight.

Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers Lineup:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

David Perron – Sam Gagner – Nail Yakupov

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Ales Hemsky

Luke Gazdic – Anton Lander – Ryan Jones

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Nick Schultz – Justin Schultz

Anton Belov – Philip Larsen

Devan Dubnyk

Colorado Avalanche Lineup:

Ryan O’Reilly – Matt Duchene – Nathan MacKinnon

Gabriel Landeskog – Paul Stastny – PA Parenteau

Jamie McGinn – John Mitchell – Max Talbot

Patrick Bordeleau – Marc-Andre Cliche – Cody McLeod

Nate Guenin – Erik Johnson

Andre Benoit – Cory Sarich

Tyson Barrie – Jan Hejda

Semyon Varlamov