Oilers v. Avalanche - 2 Samuel 2:8-10

"'Who are you?' Dallas said. And so I told him, 'I am one who cheers for the Oilers.' Then the coach of the team looked right at me and said, 'Put me out of my misery. This experience has been nothing but pain all day long and I want to be fired.' So I started chanting for his head and I threw my jersey to the ice and many others joined me in this for we all knew that he couldn't go on. We made it impossible for him to keep his job, and now we have brought the situation to you, Mr. MacTavish, so that you might decide what's best."

Colorado Avalanche @ Edmonton Oilers

Rexall Place, 7:30 p.m. MST
Television: Sportsnet

The Race to the Bottom (It's Happening Again):

Visiting Team Scouting Report: The Colorado Avalanche are heading to the playoffs on the strength of very strong percentages. Their Fenwick percentage with the score tied during five-on-five play is 25th in the NHL at 47.0%. The other teams among the top six in the West? 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 19th. They're making up for the lack of possession with great goaltending (.936 in those situations is third best in the NHL) and excellent shooting (8.3% puts them sixth). It probably won't be enough for them to overcome three really good teams to get through the Western Conference, but the playoffs are always fun, and I'm sure their fans will enjoy it. I know that I'd take a percentage-fueled winner right about now.

Expected Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers (28-42-9):

Hall - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
Lander - Gagner - Perron
Smyth - Gordon - Pinizzotto
Hendricks - Acton - Larsen

Marincin - Petry
Klefbom - Schultz
Fraser - Belov

Scrivens

Colorado Avalanche (50-21-7):

Landeskog - Stastny - Mitchell
O'Reilly - MacKinnon - McGinn
Bordeleau - Cliche - Talbot
Wilson - Malone - Carey

Hejda - Johnson
Barrie - Guenin
Holden - Benoit

Giguere

By The Numbers:

• The Oilers are now on a two-game winning streak. If they win again tonight, it will be the third time that they've won three games in a row this season, which also happens to be the length of their longest winning streak of the season.
• Nathan MacKinnon now has sixty points this season, making him the tenth player since 1994-95 to score at least that many in his Draft +1 season (with the caveat that Alex Ovechkin may have if the NHL had been playing games in 2004-05). The others are Sidney Crosby (102 in 2005-06), Patrick Kane (72 in 2007-08), and Jeff Skinner (63 in 2010-11).
• Ben Scrivens has had a save percentage of .899 or worse in four of his last six appearances. Overall, he's had seven appearance with the Oilers with a save percentage of .899 or worse, five with a save percentage between .900 and .940, and seven with a save percentage of .941 or better.