Oilers at Avalanche preview

OILERS (16-12-2) at AVALANCHE (17-8-5)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, SNW, NHL.TV

The Oilers are 6-1-0 in their past seven games and 7-2-1 under coach Ken Hitchcock, who replaced Todd McLellan on Nov. 20.
Goalie Mikko Koskinen will start for Edmonton. Koskinen is 5-1-1 with two shutouts and a .942 save percentage in his past seven starts. He is second in the NHL in goals-against average (2.06), tied for second in shutouts (three) and tied for third in save percentage (.929) among goalies with at least 14 starts.
Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen will try to extend his point streak to 12 games. He has 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in an 11-game streak and leads the NHL in scoring (48 points) and assists (36).
Colorado is 10-2-2 in its past 14 games.

Players to watch

Oilers center Connor McDavid has eight points (three goals, five assists) in a five-game point streak and 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his past 12 games.
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in his past 11 games. His 45 points (20 goals, 25 assists) are tied for second in the NHL in scoring with Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov).

They said it

"I've coached a lot of games against these guys and they only need a sniff and they're on the goal. What's unique about the line is they can beat you off the rush and they can beat you on the cycle. There's not many lines that can do both." -- Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock on Colorado's top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen
"[The Oilers] have a new coach and a new commitment to their defensive game. They haven't been allowing any goals lately, so it's going to be a tough test." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Oilers projected lineup

Leon Draisaitl -- Connor McDavid -- Alex Chiasson
Jujhar Khaira -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Valentin Zykov -- Ryan Spooner -- Ty Rattie
Milan Lucic -- Kyle Brodziak -- Zack Kassian
Oscar Klefbom -- Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse -- Kris Russell
Kevin Gravel -- Matt Benning
Mikko Koskinen
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Jason Garrison, Cooper Marody, Chris Wideman
Injured: Drake Caggiula (hand), Tobias Rieder (upper body), Andrej Sekera (Achilles)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost - J.T. Compher - Sven Andrighetto
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
A.J. Greer -- Colin Wilson -- Gabriel Bourque
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole - Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth -- Nikita Zadorov
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Mark Alt
Injured:Mark Barberio (upper body), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Alex Kerfoot (undisclosed)

Status report

Wilson will move from second-line right wing to fourth-line center with Bourque and Greer, who was recalled from Colorado of the American Hockey League. … Kamensky will have shoulder surgery and possibly miss the rest of the season.

Stat pack

Draisaitl, who will play his 300th NHL game, has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in his past 13 games. … Landeskog has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games.