Avalanche vs. Oilers, Game 55: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Coming off an impressive road win in St. Louis, the Colorado Avalanche will look to keep things rolling against the high flying Edmonton Oilers.

Easier said than done.

Justus Annunen got the job done on Saturday afternoon, but on Sunday, expect Alexandar Georgiev to be in net. He’s faced 123 shots in his last three starts, stopping 115 of them.

Cale Makar took another hit to the head in his return from a concussion, but returned and said he expects to play Sunday.

Spoke with #Avs Cale Makar in the postgame locker room. He expects to play tomorrow versus Edmonton after another blow to the head.

“Yeah, I hope so. Unless anything turns. Just a tough one. I got kind of bruised on the nose just because I think my visor hit it. But we’ll see.”

— Kyle Fredrickson (@kylefredrickson) February 18, 2023

Another player expected back in the lineup is Josh Manson. He returned from a long layoff on Wednesday against the Wild, but the team opted to give him Saturday off. They want to ease him back into the lineup after missing so much time, and didn’t want him playing back to back’s immediately.

This should be an entertaining matchup. The game will contain the three highest scorers in the league in terms of points per game, with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon is red hot with nine points in his last four games.

On the other side, it’s all about McDavid. He’s running away with the scoring title, and will likely win another Hart Trophy at the end of the year. He already has 101 points in just 56 games and is likely shatter his previous career high of 123 points.

The Oilers currently hold the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference with 67 points. They have, however, lost three in a row, including two in a shootout.

This is the second of three matchups between the teams this year. The Avalanche took the first game in Edmonton back in early January. The teams will face-off against in April just before the end of the regular season.

Dating back to last season, the Avalanche have won seven of the last eight matchups between the two teams, including their battle in the Conference Final.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Valeri Nichushkin

Evan Rodrigues – J.T. Compher – Mikko Rantanen

Andrew Cogliano – Alex Newhook – Logan O’Connor

Matt Nieto – Ben Meyers – Denis Malgin

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Samuel Girard – Bowen Byram

Kurtis MacDermid – Josh Manson

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Justus Annunen

Expected Edmonton Oilers Lines, per PuckPedia.com

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Zach Hyman

Evander Kane – Leon Draisaitl – Kailer Yamamoto

Matthias Janmark – Ryan McLeod – Warren Foegele

Derek Ryan – Jesse Puljujarvi

Defense:

Darnell Nurse – Cody Ceci

Brett Kulak – Tyson Barrie

Philip Broberg – Evan Bouchard

Goalies:

Stuart Skinner

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 24%, 9th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 77.4%, 19th in NHL

Edmonton Oilers Power Play: 31.5%, 1st in NHL

Edmonton Oilers Penalty Kill: 74.1%, 27th in NHL

How to Watch

TV: ESPN+, Sportsnet

Radio: 92.5 Altitude Sports Radio

Game Time: 1:00 PM MST