Preview: Avalanche offense looks to get back on track against Oilers

MacKinnon and McDavid square off once again

It’s a Colorado Avalanche gameday!

The Avalanche are back in action tonight to square off against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. After a come from behind victory against the New York Rangers on Tuesday the Avs had clinched the result they were after, but were not happy with how they played – with Head Coach Jared Bednar citing their performance as “unimpressive.”

“Ultimately, we only had half of the team playing. That’s it. Sums up everything,” Bednar said post-game on Tuesday.

The Avs will be in tough tonight if they put together a similar effort, as the Oilers boast some of the deepest offensive talent in the NHL and have been pairing their offensive results with some solid goaltending. The Avs are going to need more from than what they gave on Tuesday to pull this result out.

Let’s get into the preview.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche come into tonight’s contest on a bumpy roll, but a roll nonetheless. The club currently sits at a record of 4-2-1 in January, but the offense has been hit or miss. Of the seven contests this month, the Avs are 4-0-0 when scoring at least 3 goals. In the other three games, they’ve only mustered two goals total, going 0-2-1. This inconsistency from the offense is a bit unusual, and will need to be on the positive end tonight.

There’ll be some changes to the lineup tonight. Samuel Girard will make his return to the lineup from injury, who the Avs have sorely missed on the backend these last handful of games. Sam Malinski will draw out of the lineup with this change.

Additionally, it appeared at morning skate that Mikko Rantanen will open tonight’s contest at center, as Bednar looks for a consistent spark from the offense. The Avs played around with this idea a lot two seasons ago, as Rantanen routinely played 2nd line Center in the 2022-23 season while Colorado searched for an answer to replace Nazem Kadri.

Mackenzie Blackwood will draw the start for the Avalanche tonight. He was the Avs best player against the Rangers, turning aside 27/29 shots and a slew of odd-man rushes. Since coming to the Avs, Blackwood has yet to allow more than two goals in a game and has been arguably the league’s top goaltender since his arrival to Denver.

The Avs will need him to keep the momentum going between the pipes, as Edmonton has scored at least three goals in 17 of their previous 20 games.

Projected Lineup:

Artturi Lehkonen (62) — Nathan MacKinnon (29) — Jonathan Drouin (27)
Joel Kiviranta (94) — Mikko Rantanen (96) — Logan O’Connor (25)
Ross Colton (20) — Parker Kelly (17) — Juuso Parssinen (16)
Jere Innala (22) — Casey Mittelstadt (37) — Jason Polin (41)

Devon Toews (7) — Cale Makar (8)
Samuel Girard (49) — Josh Manson (42)
Calvin De Haan (44) — Keaton Middleton (67)

Mackenzie Blackwood (39)
Scott Wedgewood (41)

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers come into tonight on the second night of a back-to-back, after defeating the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul last night by a score of 5-3.

As previously stated, the Oilers have scored at least 3 goals in 17 of their last 20 games. The last time these two teams saw each other was right before this 20 game stretch for the Oilers, with Edmonton turning aside Colorado in a 4-1 victory on November 30th.

It is no secret that the Oilers are one of the league’s deepest teams offensively. Their 3.31 goals per game marks them down at 6th in the NHL. Colorado is right with them, at 3.30 goals per game.

Additionally, Edmonton has a solid powerplay, currently operating at 25%, which could be considered a bit low for the standard we’ve become accustomed to with the Oilers. Regardless, 25% indicates a powerplay that can burn you if you’re not careful, and with Colorado’s powerplay struggling immensely as of late, the special teams battle will be an important one to come out on top of tonight.

Stuart Skinner will draw the start for the Oilers. After a rough start to the season, Skinner has regained the form that helped propel Edmonton to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last June. Since December 1st, Skinner boasts a record of 9-3-1, with a 2.18 GAA and .921 SV% to boot.

Skinner has his ups and downs, but he’s a solid goaltender who can beat you with a white hot performance on any given night. Colorado needs to bring their best offensively tonight.

Projected Lineup:

Leon Draisaitl (29) — Connor McDavid (97) — Zach Hyman (18)
Vasily Podkolzin (92) — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) — Viktor Arvidsson (33)
Mattias Janmark (13) — Adam Henrique (19) — Connor Brown (28)
Corey Perry (90) — Noah Philp (48) — Kasperi Kapanen (42)

Mattias Ekholm (14) — Evan Bouchard (2)
Darnell Nurse (25) — Josh Brown (44)
Brett Kulak (27) — Ty Emberson (49)

Stuart Skinner (74)
Calvin Pickard (30)