Avalanche at Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers continue their five-game homestand when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. After capping a 2-1-0 road trip with a shootout win in Dallas, Edmonton suffered a 6-2 loss to Phoenix in the opener of its homestand. The Oilers entered the third period down by just one goal but surrendered three in the first half of the session en route to just their third loss in eight games.
Colorado has been idle since posting a 3-2 shootout victory over visiting Minnesota on Saturday. The Avalanche built a 2-0 lead on goals by captain Gabriel Landeskog and top overall pick Nathan MacKinnon but squandered it before Ryan O'Reilly netted the lone tally in the bonus format. Colorado improved to 16-0-0 when leading after two periods as it completed a home-and-home sweep of the Wild.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), RSN (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (19-6-0): Colorado has recovered from its brief funk, winning five of its last six contests following a three-game losing streak. It has played solid defense in that span, allowing three goals or fewer in each of the five victories. Semyon Varlamov suffered a minor groin injury in Saturday's win and missed several days of practice but is likely to play against Edmonton.
ABOUT THE OILERS (9-18-2): David Perron enters Thursday with a three-game point streak during which he has collected three goals and an assist. The left wing netted both tallies in Tuesday's loss and has scored seven of his 11 goals this season over his last eight contests. Edmonton shook up its roster Wednesday, recalling forward Anton Lander and defensemen Corey Potter and Martin Marincin from Oklahoma City of the American Hockey League while assigning forward Will Acton and blue-liner Denis Grebeshkov to the Barons.
OVERTIME
1. Edmonton won four of the five meetings between the teams last season.
2. Colorado G Jean-Sebastien Giguere is slated to make the start Friday at Calgary.
3. Oilers C Boyd Gordon is expected to miss his third straight game with a shoulder injury.