This is the battle you've been waiting for. Two powerhouse teams, battling it out for bragging rights. The Oilers bring their potent offense, better than 4 other NHL teams to the Pepsi Center to square off against the Avalanche defense, currently ranked a respectable 30th. To win, the Oilers will probably want to draw a lot of penalties, to match their 30th ranked powerplay against the Avs' 29th ranked penalty kill. Hoo boy, the sparks are going to fly.
Okay, neither team is very good this year, although the Oilers have been playing well lately, winning 6 out of their last 9 (including a 5-1 win against the Avs). The Avs haven't beaten a team other than St Louis in their last 18 games.
Brian Elliot starts for the Avs (hoping to avenge that 5-1 loss) and Adam Foote returns to the lineup. Ryan O'Byrne will not play, but should be back on Tuesday. Honestly, I'd skip an Oilers game if I had the chance to as well. In fact, I just might.
| Colorado | Edmonton | |||
| 25th | 60 | Points | 30th | 52 |
| 10th | 2.83 | GF/G | 26th | 2.49 |
| 30th | 3.41 | GA/G | 29th | 3.18 |
| 10th | 19.2 | PP% | 30th | 13.0 |
| 29th | 77.1 | PK% | 30th | 76.6 |
| 20th | 29.5 | S/G | 29th | 26.6 |
| 21st | 31.8 | SA/G | 22nd | 31.8 |
| 21st | 49.8 | FO% | 30th | 44.3 |
| 18th | 12.8 | PIM/G | 28th | 15.2 |
| Stastny | 50 pts | Top Scorer | Hall / Hemskey | 42 pts |