Oilers at Avalanche preview

OILERS (23-30-4) at AVALANCHE (31-22-4)
3 p.m. ET; ALT, SNW, NHL.TV

MacKinnon, who has 61 points (24 goals, 37 assists) in 49 games, has missed the past eight games because of an upper-body injury.
The Avalanche will try to set a franchise record with their 11th consecutive home win; they have outscored opponents 38-14 during their 10-game streak. They last lost at home 3-1 to the Arizona Coyotes on Dec. 27. The Quebec Nordiques won 10 straight at home twice, from March 6-April 16, 1995, and from Nov. 26, 1983-Jan. 10, 1984.
Colorado is three points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Oilers will look to end a six-game losing streak (0-6-0); they lost 1-0 at the Coyotes on Saturday and have been outscored 26-14 in the streak. Edmonton has lost the first two games of a three-game road trip and is 6-13-2 in its past 21.

Players to watch

Oilers center Connor McDavid has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his past nine games.
Avalanche forward Gabriel Bourque has three goals in his past six games.

They said it

"Right now we just have to find ways to stay positive and keep grinding away. We know where we're at right now. We have to make sure we're playing for each other. We're going through some hard times right now." -- Oilers forward Pat Maroon
"We've been playing pretty well at home, finding different ways to get the job done with different guys stepping up at home. We've got to keep this thing going. It's a big one, but they're just going to get bigger and bigger." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Oilers projected lineup

Patrick Maroon -- Connor McDavid -- Leon Draisaitl
Milan Lucic -- Jujhar Khaira -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Michael Cammalleri -- Ryan Strome -- Anton Slepyshev
Drake Caggiula -- Mark Letestu -- Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom -- Kris Russell
Yohann Auvitu -- Brandon Davidson
Laurent Brossoit
Cam Talbot
Scratched:Matt Benning, Iiro Pakarinen
Injured:Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (upper body), Al Montoya (upper body), Andrej Sekera (face)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Alex Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson
Gabriel Bourque -- Tyson Jost -- Nail Yakupov
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth -- Samuel Girard
Anton Lindholm -- Tyson Barrie
Semyon Varlamov
Andrew Hammond
Scratched: Duncan Siemens, Dominic Toninato
Injured: Sven Andrighetto (lower body), Mark Barberio (lower body), Jonathan Bernier (concussion), Vladislav Kamenev (fractured arm)

Status report

Brossoit could start after Talbot played against the Coyotes. ... Hammond was recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Saturday with Bernier in the concussion protocol. … The Avalanche assigned forward A.J. Greer to San Antonio of the AHL.

Stat pack

Edmonton has not scored a power-play goal in 13 of its past 15 games (3-for-33). ... Colorado is 1-for-25 on the power play in its past seven games.