Game Preview: Avalanche at Oilers

The Avalanche are traveling to playing a last-place Edmonton team tonight. They're 30-26-4, looking to win their division-best 18th game on the road, and hoping to maintain their grip on a playoff spot in the Western Conference. We promise, you guys -- there's no other narrative to be told. Certainly not one concerning rookie forwards who play for opposing teams. Not a peep will be heard about it from television or radio broadcasts, nor from Twitter, and certainly not from our own game thread, which will be acutely focused on the task at hand.

You guys are unbreakable.

What everyone will be talking about is the suddenly resurgent Jarome Iginla, who has nine points in his last seven games (including four goals). He finds himself back on the top line, now centered by Matt Duchene and rounded out by up-and-comer Mikhail Grigorenko. Patrick Roy has now broken up his second line as well (told ya, Steph!). Carl Soderberg and Blake Comeau will slide back to the third line with Cody McLeod and Nathan MacKinnon will now center a line with Alex Tanguay and Gabriel Landeskog. John Mitchell will take faceoffs with Andreas Martinsen and Jack Skille on the 4th.

Backup Calvin Pickard will get the nod in net tonight and Semyon Varlamov will return tomorrow in Vancouver.

These two teams played last in Colorado on December 20. Tyson Barrie chipped in two points but the Avs otherwise spread it around in a comfortable 5-1 victory. More of that, please.

Lineups

Grigs - Dutch - Iggy

Tangs - Mac - Landy

Cody - Carl - Blake

Marty - Mitchy - Skille

*  *  *

Beauch - EJ

Holden - Barrie

Bigras - Bodnarchuk

*  *  *

Pickard

Varlamov