Game Preview: Colorado Avalanche @ Edmonton Oilers

Colorado Avalanche (2-2-0) @Edmonton Oilers (2-2-0)

28 JAN 2013 – 7:30 PM MST

LINES

F

TAYLOR HALL / RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS / JORDAN EBERLE

NAIL YAKUPOV / SAM GAGNER / ALES HEMSKY

RYAN SMYTH / SHAWN HORCOFF / LENNART PETRELL

TEEMU HARTIKAINEIN / ERIC BELANGER / MAGNUS PAAJARVI

D

LADISLAV SMID / JEFF PETRY

NICK SCHULTZ / JUSTIN SCHULTZ

RYAN WHITNEY / COREY POTTER

G

DEVAN DUBNYK

YANN DANIS

• Oilers host Colorado after a 4-3 defeat versus Calgary at the Saddledome this past Saturday.  The Avalanche are coming off a 4-0 blanking against the upstart San Jose Sharks.

Krueger says the decision to play Potter is to keep everyone in the mix, keep guys fresh with 4 games this week. Nothing against Fistric.

— Dan Tencer (@dantencer) January 28, 2013

• Teemu Hartikainen is back in the lineup for Darcy Hordichuk.  Lennart Petrell gets a promotion to the third line, and I really like the look of the forwards tonight.  You want an energy line?  I don’t think you can go wrong with 56-20-91.  As you can see from the Dan Tencer tweet, Corey Potter draws in for Mark Fistric tonight.
• Colorado is still missing the services of their 1C Ryan O’Reilly, who is currently without a contract.  How important is O’Reilly to this Avalanche team?  He was good for 55 points last year, and he’s one month away from turning 22. Priority?  Pretty high.  Recently, O’Reilly and his KHL club Metallurg Magnitogorsk mutually concluded his contract to play overseas.  Great for the Avalanche, right?  Maybe not.  According to the Denver Post, he was coming back to the States to have his foot looked at.
• Devan Dubnyk will get the start tonight for the Oilers, while Semyon Varlamov will be between the pipes for Colorado. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog is also out tonight as he recovers from a hit from San Jose’s Brad Stuart.

#GOILERS

Jeff – @OilOnWhyte

Ian – @ibleedoil

Jonathan – @jonrmcleod

Troy – @heavyoilcountry

Dave – @rustyknuckler

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