Music: {allcanada} Oilers-Avalanche Preview

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

{allcanada} Oilers-Avalanche Preview

Put the heat into your life with Harlequin Blaze

	STATS
60	GP	60
19	W	26
33	L	27
8	OT	7
46	P	59
0.383	P%	0.492
2.50	G/G	2.90
3.25	GA/G	3.42
12.4	PP%	18.7
76.0	PK%	77.2
26.3	S/G	29.8
31.7	SA/G	31.6
44.0	FO%	49.8
BUY EDM PHOTOS › \| BUY COL PHOTOS ›

DATE	VIS/HOME	FINAL
Dec 30, 2010	COL@EDM	COL, 4 - 3
Nov 25, 2010	COL@EDM	EDM, 3 - 2

It took a recent addition to their lineup for the Colorado Avalanche to finally end their 10-game losing streak.

After a brief run of success, the Edmonton Oilers fell back to their familiar ways.

The bottom two teams in the Western Conference meet Wednesday night when Colorado hosts Edmonton looking to bolster its slim playoff hopes.

Recently acquired defenseman Erik Johnson scored the go-ahead goal against his former team Tuesday in the Avalanche's 4-3 victory at St. Louis. Johnson, a former No. 1 overall pick acquired Saturday with Jay McClement from the Blues for Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk, scored his first goal for his new team.

Colorado (26-27-7) ended its longest losing streak since relocating from Quebec prior to the 1995-96 season.

"I just wanted to make sure I didn't celebrate at the wrong bench," Johnson kidded. "I want to get to the right bench to make the fist pumps. It's a very wonderful feeling to score against your old team in your old building."

Matt Duchene was held scoreless in his return after missing two games with a hand injury. He has a goal and two assists in two meetings against the Oilers this season.

Peter Budaj made 42 saves for his first win since Jan. 24, which also came against St. Louis. He was 0-5-1 with a 3.49 goals-against average in eight appearances since his last victory.

Budaj took the loss Nov. 25 in a 3-2 defeat at Edmonton. Paul Stastny, who scored Tuesday for the first time since Jan. 22, had a goal and an assist Dec. 30 in Colorado's 4-3 shootout win against the Oilers.

The Avalanche have shut out Edmonton the last two meetings in Colorado, outscoring the Oilers 9-0 and outshooting them 76-44 in those contests. Craig Anderson, traded to Ottawa on Friday, was in net for both of those shutouts.

If Edmonton hopes to end that slide, it may need to rediscover its offense from its three-game winning streak, which was snapped Tuesday in a 4-1 loss at Minnesota.

Prior to the streak, Edmonton had lost 12 of 14.

The Oilers (19-33-8) allowed three third-period goals to the Wild after having outscored opponents 13-5 during their streak. Edmonton's Taylor Hall scored three power-play goals in the third period alone Saturday in a win against Atlanta, but the Oilers were unable to convert on a pivotal 91 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage in the third period against Minnesota.

"When you got a 5-on-3, you want to make sure you get traffic at the net so you at least feel like it's a good idea to shoot," coach Tom Renney said. "It always looks pretty when you get to look at highlights and see nice tuck-in goals or whatever, but the bottom line is you got to get greasy, you got to get dirty, you got to get the puck to the net with bodies."

Nikolai Khabibulin made 19 saves and lost for the first time in three starts. He's 3-2-0 with a 2.42 GAA in his last five against Colorado.

Andrew Cogliano has two goals and an assist in the two meetings against the Avalanche, but has only an assist in his last five games overall.

Edmonton has lost five of seven on the road.