Blues-Oilers, Wild-Hurricanes highlight weekend schedule

Each Friday, NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will provide readers with games he is looking forward to that weekend:

#

St. Louis Blues at Edmonton Oilers (Friday, 9 p.m. ET; SNW, BSMW, ESPN+, NHL LIVE)

Blues center Jordan Kyrou could miss his second straight game because of a non-COVID illness; he's their leading scorer (62 points; 22 goals, 40 assists), so the offense will have to be picked up elsewhere in the lineup, perhaps from forward Vladimir Tarasenko (58 points; 23 goals, 35 assists), center Robert Thomas (53 points; 13 goals, 40 assists) or forward Pavel Buchnevich (51 points; 21 goals, 30 assists) for St. Louis (37-20-9). Goalie Ville Husso has been great for the Blues, too (18-6-4, 2.40 goals-against average, .923 save percentage, two shutouts in 30 games).
For the Oilers (38-25-5), centers Connor McDavid (100 points; 37 goals, 63 assists) and Leon Draisaitl (97 points; 49 goals, 48 assists) rank first and second on the NHL scoring list. Forward Evander Kane has been a good acquisition with 23 points (15 goals, eight assists) in 29 games. Edmonton is plus-20 in goal differential under coach Jay Woodcroft with a 15-7-2 record and seeks its ninth straight home win.

Pittsburgh Penguins at Colorado Avalanche (Saturday, 3 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, SN1, ESPN+, NHL LIVE)

This game could be a Stanley Cup Final preview; these two teams meet again at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The Penguins (41-18-10) are coming off a big 4-3 overtime victory at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Center Evgeni Malkin, who scored the winning goal, has scored 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past six games. Center Sidney Crosby has scored 71 points (25 goals, 46 assists) and forward Jake Guentzel has scored 66 points and leads Pittsburgh with 32 goals. I expect them to give more starts to backup goalie Casey DeSmith down the stretch to give Tristan Jarry some rest before the playoffs. Coach Mike Sullivan always seems to be overlooked in the Jack Adams conversation for coach of the year but shouldn't be this season, especially with the injuries the Penguins have had.
Nathan MacKinnon returned for the Avalanche in a 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday after missing one game with an upper-body injury. The center has scored 70 points (22 goals, 48 assists), one of four Colorado players with at least that many, including center Nazem Kadri (83 points; 26 goals, 57 assists), forward Mikko Rantanen (80 points; 34 goals, 46 assists) and defenseman Cale Makar (75 points; 24 goals, 51 assists). Kadri could miss the game with an undisclosed injury. Goalie Darcy Kuemper had some rough patches earlier but is dialed in now (31-9-3, 2.37 GAA, .924 save percentage, five shutouts). Pavel Francouz (13-3-1, 2.50 GAA, .918 save percentage, two shutouts) has been a solid backup after missing the entire 2020-21 season because of injury. The Avalanche (48-14-6) have the best record in the NHL League and look to keep their foot on the gas entering the final weeks of the regular season.

Minnesota Wild at Carolina Hurricanes (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET; BSSO, BSN, BSWIX, ESPN+, NHL LIVE)

Center Sebastian Aho (68 points; 31 goals, 37 assists) and forwards Andrei Svechnikov (60 points; 27 goals, 33 assists) and Teuvo Teravainen (56 points; 17 goals, 39 assists), are continuing to drive the train offensively for the Hurricanes (45-16-8). Their defense has been great even after undergoing some changes following last season. Goalie Frederik Andersen (33-10-3, 2.00 GAA, .929 save percentage, four shutouts) is coming off a 4-0 shutout against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. I think Rod Brind'Amour is one of the best coaches in the NHL and I wouldn't be surprised to see Carolina make a deep playoff run.
Forward Kirill Kaprizov has tied the Wild scoring record with 83 points (38 goals, 45 assists) and could hit 100 points this season. He is a box-office player and must-see TV. Minnesota (41-20-5) is more complete than in seasons past and tougher to play against with a really good third line (Kevin Fiala, Frederick Gaudreau, Matt Boldy). The addition of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to go along with Cam Talbot gives them a great one-two punch in net. The Wild have been terrific at home (24-7-2) but let's see if they can improve on their road record (17-13-3).