Oilers at Avalanche
After hitting another speed bump on the road, the Colorado Avalanche return home and can establish a franchise record when they host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday afternoon. Colorado also will welcome back leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon from injury in its bid to set a club mark with its 11th consecutive victory at home.
The Avalanche squandered a chance to pull into a tie for the second wild card in the Western Conference and may have lost goaltender Jonathan Bernier in the process when they were demolished 6-1 at Winnipeg on Friday. "With the bad games, you've just got to get past it and learn from it tomorrow and watch some video," Colorado's Mikko Rantanen told reporters. "Against Edmonton Sunday, so it's going to be a huge game - bounce back." Sunday's matchup is the first of six in a row against Pacific Division opponents Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver - three at home and three in Western Canada - for Colorado, which ended a three-game skid in the series with a 4-3 overtime win over the host Oilers on Feb. 1. Edmonton, which is wrapping up a three-game road trip, saw its losing streak reached a season-high six games with a 1-0 setback at league-worst Arizona on Saturday.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, Sportsnet West (Edmonton), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE OILERS (23-30-4): Edmonton wasted a 31-save performance by Cam Talbot, who suffered his fifth straight defeat despite allowing fewer than two goals for the first time in 14 starts. Laurent Brossoit, recalled from Bakersfield on Saturday, may get the start against Colorado after backup Al Montoya was injured during Friday's practice. Leon Draisaitl had his three-game goal-scoring streak snapped Saturday, but he collected a pair assists versus the Avalanche earlier this month and torched them for five points - three goals - in three meetings last season.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (31-22-4): MacKinnon (shoulder), who was second in the league in scoring at the time of his injury, practiced fully on Saturday and pronounced himself ready to return after missing eight games. "A hundred percent, I feel good," MacKinnon told reporters. "My trainers did a great job getting me ready, getting me healthy quickly, so I'm good." Bernier went into the concussion protocol following the second period on Friday and was replaced by Semyon Varlamov, who already was scheduled to get the start and is coming off a 44-save shutout against Montreal on Wednesday.
OVERTIME
1. Oilers captain McDavid has recorded three goals and 10 points in six career games versus the Avalanche.
2. Colorado is the league's best penalty-killing team at home with a success rate of 92.2 percent.
3. Oilers D Adam Larsson returned Saturday after missing eight games following the death of his father and recorded a game-high six blocked shots in nearly 19 minutes of ice time.