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Avalanche @ Oilers Game 80 Preview

Antipenultimate game of the season for the antipenultimate team in the standings

Ryan O'Reilly (28-33-61) is third in scoring for the Avalanche
Ryan O'Reilly (28-33-61) is third in scoring for the Avalanche
Doug Pensinger


Colorado

@

Oilers3
50-21-7, 1.372 p/g Ranks 28-42-9, .822 p/g
Western Conference: 3rd Western Conference: 14th
4th P/G 28th
21st ST 26th
9th ES 29th
15th Goal 30th
7:30 PM MDT - TSN
Rexall Place
The opposing view: Mile High Hockey
Tickets - TiqIQ


Two Consecutive Victories Is A Streak

A three goal second period helped propel the Oilers to a 4-2 victory over Anaheim on Sunday. David Perron scored a shorthanded goal for the Oilers, his 27th goal of the season. Perron scoring a shorthanded goal is especially noteworthy because it was the Oilers SCORING a shorthanded goal instead of yielding one. Taylor Hall is now at a point per game with just three games remaining, Viktor Fasth picked up a victory, and the Oilers are picking up points in the race for 28th (29th?) overall. It's on, Panthers.

The Oilers are saying

"We just have to find that way to contribute every night and be that top line that we know we can be"

That's Oilers forward Jordan Eberle discussing how the first line needs to keep the good times rolling.

4-93-14 is a pretty good thing, and if all the members of this line are around when training camp opens, the Oilers ought to consider running with it forever and ever just the way it is. Taylor Hall just scored is fiftieth assist of the year (and seventh in four games), while the line of 4-93-14 has 22 points combined in the last four games.

The Opponent is saying

"What I want is just consistency, good effort like we did (Sunday) in the third period...Be resilient. This is who we are."
That's Avalanche coach Patrick Roy on what he'd like to see from his team. The Avalanche are wrapping up the season on a four game road trip beginning tonight in Edmonton.

Has someone bought Semyon Varlamov a bouquet yet? Guy's earned one with his play between the pipes.

The Avalanche have had a pretty fine season on paper. They've got 50 wins, they're going to the playoffs, and things look pretty good from this side of the grass. Under that nice 50 win blanket, it's hard not to notice that the Avalanche are 21st in total shots, and there are only four other teams in the league who allow more shots per game than Colorado does. Avalanche are +30 on the entire season in goals scored, so what's going on over there?

VARLAMOV FOR VEZINA
It's not all Semyon Varlamov, but when your goaltender is holding it down with a .927 SV% after 62 games of play, he's doing something pretty fine. It's worth two glances once you realize that Varlamov has faced the most shots out of any of the goaltenders in the NHL this year. The Avalanche are in good hands if that .927 stays where it is.

Again, it's not all Varlamov, but he's helping Patrick Roy look like a genius so far.

Have some of this
  • With Viktor Fasth collecting the victory in against the Ducks, I'd say it's a fair bet that Ben Scrivens will get the start for the Oilers tonight. It's looking like the Avalanche plan to go with J-S Giguere (10-6-0, .910SV%) in order to get Semyon Varlamov a night off. Now seems like a pretty good time to point out that Giguere is one of the last players in the NHL who played on the final Hartford Whalers team.
  • SLIGHTLY RELATED The world's known about Mark Arcobello's deal for some time now, but I still can't wrap my head around the fact that he's making just 600K on his new one-way deal. I'm struggling to think of a better contract on this team in 2014-15.
  • THE RACE TO 29th- Remaining for Edmonton (3) - COL, LA, VAN. Remaining for Florida - (3) PHI, TOR, CLB. Edmonton has 65 points, Florida has 64. Finally, a race for us to watch.
  • THE ANTON LANDER EXPERIENCE...is going less smooth than one would hope. Brings back recent memories of the Taylor-Hall-At-C experience. Certainly not suggesting that Anton Lander and Taylor Hall are near the same player, but I will suggest that sometimes guys who are likely 4Cs who are playing out of position in a top six role sometimes don't pan out the way you'd like.
L'Avalanche du Colorado

Gabriel Landeskog - Paul Stastny - John Mitchell

Ryan O'Reilly - Nathan Mackinnon - Jamie McGinn

Patrick Bordeleau - Marc-Andre Cliche - Max Talbot

Ryan Wilson - Brad Malone - Paul Carey

Jan Hejda - Eric Johnson

Tyson Barrie - Nate Guenin

Nick Holden - Andre Benoit

Jean-Sebastien Gigeure

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Les Oilers d'Edmonton

Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

Anton Lander - Sam Gagner - David Perron

Ryan Smyth - Boyd Gordon - Steve Pinizzotto

Matt Hendricks - Will Acton - Philip Larsen

Martin Marincin - Jeff Petry

Oscar Klefbom - Justin Schultz

Mark Fraser - Anton Belov

Ben Scrivens