After grinding out a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday, the Edmonton Oilers will immediately be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Colorado to face the Avalanche.

1. This will be the second of three meetings between the Oilers and Avs during the regular season. Back on November 30, Edmonton rolled into Colorado and picked up a 4-1 victory, putting the Avs at 13-12-0 on the year.

That underwhelming record prompted the Avs to make some major changes to their roster.

First, they swapped goalies with the Nashville Predators, moving Justus Annunen and a sixth-round pick in exchange for Scott Wedgewood. Less than two weeks later, they dealt Alexandar Georgiev, Nikolai Kovalenko, and a second-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Mackenzie Blackwood and Givani Smith.

2. Since that aforementioned loss to Edmonton in late November, the Avs have gone 14-5-1. The two new goaltenders have been a major part of Colorado’s turnaround.

Both Georgiev and Annunen struggled mightily in the early part of the season and the Avs didn’t want to let poor goaltending sink them. Georgiev suited up in 18 games for Colorado before getting traded and had a .874 save percentage. Annunen had a .872 save percentage across 11 appearances.

Blackwood was having a solid season with the basement-dwelling Sharks and he’s found another level since joining the Avs. He posted a .909 save percentage in 19 games with San Jose and has a .938 save percentage in his first 12 games with Colorado. Wedgewood struggled to a .878 save percentage in five starts with Nashville and has improved to a .917 save percentage in seven games with the Avs.

General manager Chris MacFarland and his front office deserve major credit for making these early-season moves to shore up their goaltending. It’s not easy to make trades in the NHL in November and December and they didn’t have to give up much to completely turn their season around.

3. Colorado doesn’t need world-beating goaltending to be successful because they’re one of the strongest teams in the league in terms of offence and play driving.

When they won the Stanley Cup back in 2022, Colorado had a tandem of Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz between the pipes. Both of them were solid goaltenders but neither were stars.

The Avs currently rank fifth in the league in goals scored in all situations. They’re strong at even strength and they have a league-average power play that has scored on 21.2 percent of its opportunities.

4. One weakness Colorado has when it comes to offence is that the team is very top-heavy.

Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon leads the league in scoring with 70 points, Mikko Rantanen is right behind him with 61 points, and Cale Makar is having another Norris Trophy-calibre season with 50 points in 45 games. After those three, Casey Mittelstadt is fourth on Colorado in scoring with 26 points and only 16 of them have come at even strength.

Colorado’s Stanley Cup roster featured seven players with at least 20 goals and 10 players with at least 30 points. The Avs haven’t been able to replace the depth production of Nazem Kadri, J.T. Compher, and Andrei Burakovsky. They also miss having Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin at full strength.

5. The Oilers are navigating a very difficult part of their schedule right now and the results have been impressive. Edmonton’s last six games have been played across six different cities and they’ve gone 5-1-0 while outscoring their opponents 21-to-13. They’ll play the Avs in Colorado on Thursday, the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday, and then they’ll return home for a much-needed six-game homestand.

This strong stretch has the Oilers closing in not only on the Vegas Golden Knights for the top spot in the Pacific Division, but the best record in the league as a whole.

Edmonton is 28-13-3 with 59 points, two back of the Golden Knights with the same amount of games played. They’re four points back of the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals, who lead the way in the Presidents’ Trophy race with 63 points each. The Oilers have one game in hand on Winnipeg and the same amount of games played as Washington.

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