GDB 57.0: The Oilers need this one in Colorado (1pm MT, SNW)

Photo credit:Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

1 year ago

If you love Oilers hockey in the daylight hours, we’ve got another treat for you as the boys take on the Colorado Avalanche in yet another matinee.

Be sure to check out NHL lines site Betway for the latest Oilers game day odds!

How do the Oilers play this many matinees? How are there 11 of these games this season? Last weekend we had two 10:30 AM MT starts, and today, we’ve got the Oilers kicking off at 1 PM against the Colorado Avalanche in another massive test at a key juncture. Since returning from the All-Star break, the Oilers clearly haven’t exactly been world beaters in the six games they’ve played as three of the losses suffered — Philadelphia, Montreal, and Detroit — have come to non-playoff teams that they probably should have beaten. I know there’s always an element of ‘Any Given Sunday’ in the NHL and that no game is ever a gimme, but I don’t think anyone would say that they’re happy with the results from the last week. On the flip side, the Avalanche are sporting a 6-2-2 record over their last 10 games, including a big win yesterday against the St. Louis Blues.

Heading into Colorado on a three-game losing streak, there isn’t much that the Oilers couldn’t tighten up in their game right now. But at the same point, it’s not like they’re playing poorly either. It’s just that their details are off by a half-turn and it’s causing them to cough up pucks and opportunities at a higher rate than they can absorb. The ideas are good, but the execution is off, ya know? That can’t happen against the Avs. They’re going to produce enough chances on their own with sloppy puck play from our side giving them extra opportunities, meaning that the Oilers will need to come up with a simple game and keep it going for 60 minutes. Against New York, the Oilers took their foot off the gas after building up a 4-1 lead and it came back to burn them in the worst way possible, and I’m hoping there’s a lesson in there that they will carry into Colorado. Dare to dream?

Let’s see what the numbers say.

THE NUMBERS

	OILERS	AVALANCHE
RECORD	30-19-7	30-19-5
WIN/LOSS STREAK	L3	W2
Last 10 Games	5-1-4	6-2-2
GOALS FOR	209	167
GOALS AGAINST	185	150
POWER PLAY%	31.5	24.0
PENALTY KILL%	74.1	77.4
AVG. SHOTS/FOR	33.2	33.3
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST	31.9	32.3
TEAM SAVE%	.917	.933
CORSI FOR%	51.28	51.70
PDO	1.004	1.001
TEAM SHOOTING%	8.68	6.78
EXPECTED GOALS FOR%	52.34	51.21

Numbers courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (Sv%, CF%, PDO, Shooting%, xGF% all at 5×5)

GDB PRESENTED BY BETWAY

LINEUPS…

Oilers UPDATED

Foegele-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Hyman-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Janmark-RNH-Ryan
Shore-McLeod

Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Barrie
Broberg-Bouchard

Campbell

After the way the Oilers gave up a three-goal lead to the New York Rangers, I’m hoping that they come into this game at least a little bit pissed off about the way things are going. In my opinion, the last two games have been 100% winnable and while it is nice — I guess — that the boys picked up a loser point in each of them, no one is satisfied with that outcome. And when you’re going up against a team as good as Colorado, the best thing you can do is unleash some of that focused rage on the task at hand for a full 60 minutes, which is exactly what I’m hoping we’ll see today. Because if the Oilers had played a full 60 against the Wings and Rangers, we wouldn’t be talking about three straight losses right now.

***NOTE*** The line combos above are not confirmed but rather a guess based on Klim Kostin still being sick and that Devin Shore was recalled for a reason. I will jump back in to make the edits as news becomes available.

***UPDATE*** No Evander Kane for the Oilers as he is listed as ‘day-to-day with an upper body’ injury. Great. Klim Kostin is also out with an illness, and the Oilers are playing shorthanded again.

Avalanche

Lehkonen – MacKinnon – Nichushkin
Rodrigues – Compher – Rantanen
Cogliano – Newhook – O’Connor
Nieto – Malgin – MacDermid

Makar – Toews
Byram – Manson
Englund – Girard

Georgiev

The Avalanche come into this afternoon’s game on the second half of a back-to-back set that saw them kick off their weekend with a lopsided 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. And while getting the Avs in game two may provide a minor advantage for our boys, especially in the first few minutes of the game while they’re trying to get their legs going, it won’t matter unless the Oilers can find a way to get something going early. Rested and hopefully ready, the Oilers have no excuse for a slow start.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…

From Mile High Hockey:

Another day, another crucial Western Conference matchup.
This time, the Colorado Avalanche play host to the Edmonton Oilers. Both teams continue to race for playoff positioning and even make the show in the first place. For one of these teams, it’s going a lot better than the other.
The Avs would be the better team in positioning between these two. This is thanks to a run of recent results going in their favor. The most recent of these results came just about 24 hours ago, as Colorado won 4-1 away to the St. Louis Blues.
Bowen Byram was the star last game with two goals just a few games after his own return from injury. Cale Makar also returned, took a punch to the head late on, but was able to return and finish it out. Hopefully, he is good to go for today as well.
Meanwhile, Josh Manson sat out the last game as trainers didn’t want him playing in back-to-back games with his return from injury. But, he is in against the Oilers as this strong back-line looks to help the Avs win their third straight game and get within two points of the Winnipeg Jets.
The Oilers are facing the Avs on the second half of another back-to-back. Again, just like others recently against the Avs, they come in rested and ready to go.
Their last game came against the 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Rangers on Friday night at home. It was just the most recent stretch of games Edmonton has struggled in, as it was their third straight loss.

TONIGHT…

Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk

Game Day Prediction: The Oilers stay solid on the road in matinees and pick up a big 4-2 win in Colorado.

Obvious Game Day Prediction: Connor McDavid scores on a beautiful individual effort, prompting Nathan MacKinnon to respond in kind. We all know it’s going to happen.

Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Kailer Yamamoto scores the winning goal in his second game back with the Oilers after being activated from the LTIR.

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