Avalanche at Oilers preview

AVALANCHE (27-18-4) at OILERS (22-24-3)
9 p.m. ET; SNW, ALT, NHL.TV

MacKinnon, the NHL's second-leading scorer with 61 points (24 goals, 37 assists) in 49 games, sustained an upper-body injury in the second period of a 4-3 overtime loss at the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, and will miss 2-4 weeks, according to Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. Colorado has lost three straight (0-2-1) after a 10-game winning streak.
Backup goaltender Al Montoya will make his first start for the Oilers in place of Cam Talbot, who is out with an illness. Montoya was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 4.
Edmonton is 4-1-0 in its past five games after going 1-6-1 in its previous eight.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in his past 11 games.
Oilers center Connor McDavid has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past six games.

They said it

"We can't get too down, we still have a lot of games to play. We just have to try to stay positive and other guys have to step up and we have to try to play the same way. But it is a big loss for sure." -- Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen on the injury to center Nathan MacKinnon
"The last time I checked, we're looking up at where Colorado is and it's a team we have to reel in somehow. And if it affects our mindset because they lost one of their top players and we don't have to work hard, we don't have to compete, we don't have to be ready to play, then shame on us." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Oilers projected lineup

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

Status report

Varlamov was activated from injured reserve and will back up Bernier … Nieto is expected to return after missing the loss at Vancouver with a lower-body injury … Brossoit was recalled from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League to back up Montoya.

Stat pack

Bernier is 7-2-1 with a 2.00 goals-against average and one shutout in his past 10 starts … Draisaitl has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past six games.