Edmonton Oilers at Colorado Avalanche, Game 23

Edmonton Oilers
@ Colorado Avalanche

Saturday, Nov 26, 2011, 5:00 PM MST
Pepsi Center

Mile High Hockey

The biggest reason for the Avs struggles - Jibbles Scribbits
I know a lot of people are looking behind the bench for a change, and feel the losing is on him. But, for me, the biggest reason the Avs are losing is on one guy, but it's not Sacco It's the guy we traded a 1st round pick for: Semyon Varlamov.

Game 23 Preview: Oilers at Avalanche - Mile High Hockey
Oh bother. The Avalanche are in action again tonight, and yes it's a darn shame that I almost put the word action in quotes. It is kind of hard to love this team right now. They've played 22 games. 11 times - half - they've scored 2 goals or less. 14 times they've allowed 3 goals or more. I'd love to spin some happy tail here, but it boils down to a very basic premise: the Avs aren't getting it done.

Happy 19th Birthday Gabriel Landeskog - Mile High Hockey
I'll get it right next year Landy. Happy birthday!!

Taylor Hall – Shawn Horcoff – Ales Hemsky
Ryan Smyth – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Ryan Jones – Eric Belanger – Sam Gagner
Magnus Paajarvi – Anton Lander – Darcy Hordichuk

Ladislav Smid - Tom Gilbert
Ryan Whitney - Jeff Petry
Theo Peckham - Colten Teubert

Devan Dubnyk

G23 Oilers at Avalanche - Lowetide
Colorado is 2-7-1 in their last 10 and the Oilers aren't much better (4-6-0) but have been making steady progress after a losing streak early in the month. Avs are in dangerous territory, just 2 points clear of Calgary (heh heh) but I kind of feel Colorado is a sleeping giant. Duchene, Stastny, Landeskog--these two teams are going to be battling forward sets for a decade. It'll be fun, unless you're Calgary.

GAME DAY: Oilers @ Avalanche - Oil On Whyte
Devan Dubnyk is getting tonight’s start between the pipes for the Oilers. A victory tonight would bring Devan Dubnyk to .500 in the win/loss column on the season. Dubnyk currently sits at 3-4-0 with a 2.74 GAA and a .907 SV%.

Game Day "Avalanche" - Oilers Jambalaya
While this team is really starting to find it's offensive stride, it is also still learning how to handle the ups and downs of NHL hockey. Today's game will be a great game to see just how focused the Oilers can be after a great big win in Minnesota. It's easy to ride the big momentum but what happens if a few bad bounces go against you? Or what if the goaltender is struggling or some bad mental errors happen and a giveaway turns into a quick couple goals? Maybe the Oilers can score a couple goals themselves to get back into the game but will they have enough to come back and stake a claim into a win?

Oilers at Avalanche – Putting on the Foil
Other “heroes” on the season… Ladislav Smid is still leading the league in shots blocked, while Nikolai Khabibulin is 4th in GAA and 2nd in SV%. Peckham is still trying to find his stride, and so is Whitney. I am anxious to see what happens once those two are back to their peak form.

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