Preview: Avalanche aim to sweep back-to-back in Edmonton
Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
Nathan MacKinnon also needs to stay ahead of Connor McDavid in the Art Ross race.
As the regular season winds down there’s still a reason to find intrigue in this meeting between the Edmonton Oilers and the visiting Colorado Avalanche. In what could potentially be a playoff meeting down the road, it’s always a chess match and the Avalanche still face this team twice before the post season.
Also of great interest is the Art Ross and Hart Trophy race. Nathan MacKinnon enters this meeting with 130 points, three behind Nikita Kucherov and four ahead of Connor McDavid. MacKinnon’s teammates could do him a great favor by holding the Oilers star forward off the board.
Colorado Avalanche
As this is the second half of a back-to-back so the Avalanche won’t hold a morning skate and any lineup details won’t be shared ahead of the game. The expectation is both Val Nichushkin and Yakov Trenin will draw back in after minor injury absences. This looks to be pretty much a healthy lineup for the Avalanche and they could use it going into a tough matchup.
Projected Lineup
Jonathan Drouin (27) - Nathan MacKinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)
Val Nichushkin (13) - Casey Mittelstadt (37) - Artturi Lehkonen (62)
Miles Wood (28) - Ross Colton (20) - Brandon Duhaime (12)
Andrew Cogliano (11) - Yakov Trenin (73) - Zach Parise (9)
Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)
Sam Girard (49) - Josh Manson (42)
Jack Johnson (3) - Sean Walker (26)
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers are pretty secure in their Pacific Division playoff standing but need to keep winning to secure home ice to start. After two losses this week they’ll be looking to get back in the win column and keep putting pressure on their division opponents.
Projected Lineup
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) - Connor McDavid (97) - Zach Hyman (18)
Adam Henrique (37) - Leon Draisaitl (29) - Warren Foegele (37)
Evander Kane (91) - Ryan McLeod (71) - Connor Brown (28)
Mattias Janmark (13) - Sam Carrick (39) - Corey Perry (90)
Mattias Ekholm (14) - Evan Bouchard (2)
Darnell Nurse (25) - Vincent Desharnais (73)
Brett Kulak (27) - Cody Ceci (5)
Goaltenders
Since the Avalanche got a win out of Justus Annunen last night, it is now Alexandar Georgiev’s turn to do his part and earn the W in Edmonton. Common sense says the Oilers are going with their top netminder Stuart Skinner in this contest after getting shutout 5-0 in Dallas two nights ago....
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