Avalanche at Oilers
THE STORY: The Edmonton Oilers' sensational start to the season is quickly becoming a distant memory. Edmonton continues to spiral in the Western Conference standings following a stretch in which it has lost five of six games – with the only win coming at home against league-worst Columbus. The Oilers' latest defeat was a real clunker, falling at home Wednesday to a Carolina squad that entered the game on a seven-game losing streak. Edmonton will look to turn things around when it hosts Northwest Division rival Colorado on Friday night. The Avalanche had reeled off three straight impressive wins before embarking on a three-game road trip to western Canada, where they have dropped the first two. Colorado won its first six road games of the season, but has not won away from home since. The Avalanche absorbed their seventh straight road defeat in a 3-2 loss at Calgary on Thursday night.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, TSN, ALT
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (13-14-1): Colorado will be shorthanded after Kevin Porter was suspended four games for his knee-to-knee hit Tuesday on Vancouver’s David Booth. Porter sat out Thursday's loss at Calgary. Semyon Varlamov will be back in goal for Colorado. His three-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt with a 6-0 shellacking by Vancouver on Tuesday night. Chuck Kobasew and Jay McClement each played in his 500th career game Thursday. Matt Duchene took over the team lead with his 10th goal.
ABOUT THE OILERS (13-12-3): Edmonton also heard from the league office Thursday when defenseman Andy Sutton was suspended indefinitely for launching himself into Carolina's Alexei Ponikarovsky. He is being punished for intentionally leaving his feet and bringing up his forearms. Sutton was suspended for five games earlier this season for elbowing Colorado rookie Gabriel Landeskog in the head. Because he is a repeat defender, Sutton could be facing a severe punishment after he was summoned to the league’s office for an in-person hearing.
1. Scoring first hasn’t paid off for the Oilers. They have tallied first in the last eight games, but are only 1-4-1 in the last six.
2. The Avalanche have the third-best power play in the league with a success rate of 21.1 percent (20-for-95). Edmonton ranks eighth (22-for-112, 19.6 percent).