The Edmonton Oilers will host the Colorado Avalanche at Rogers Place on Saturday night in the first meeting between the two sides since last season's Western Conference Final.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin at 7:30 p.m. MT, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. COL
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Connor McDavid
PRE-GAME RAW | Stuart Skinner
RECENT VIDEOS
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. NYI
POST-RAW | Jay Woodcroft 01.05.23
POST-RAW | Kailer Yamamoto 01.05.23
POST-RAW | Zach Hyman 01.05.23
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Avalanche Statistics
Stats Comparison
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
POST-GAME: Time for action
RELEASE: Oilers sign Justin Bailey
RECAP: Oilers 4, Islanders 2
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Saturday's game on Sportsnet & HNIC at 8:00 PM MT.

INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from the locker room, including the Oilers coming together to put a full 60-minute effort into Thursday's 4-2 win over the Islanders.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - The Oilers will look for a slight bit of revenge on Saturday night when they take on the team that eliminated them in the Western Conference Final last season in the Colorado Avalanche.
Colorado would end up sweeping the series with Edmonton on their way to defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning and hoisting the Stanley Cup.
"Obviously they're the team that ended our season," Connor McDavid said about tonight's matchup. "They're Cup champs. There's lots of different reasons to get up for this one."
The stakes in tonight's game at Rogers Place are certainly not as high as they were last June, but there is still a lot on the line for both teams. Colorado is suffering from a slight post-cup hangover with a 19-15-3 record and are currently on the outside looking in when it comes to the NHL postseason and a shot at defending their Stanley Cup title.
The Avalanche are going through many of the same injuries woes that plagued the Oilers in the early part of the season. They are expected to be without top forwards in Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin in tonight's contest, but Colorado still has a fair bit of fire power in the lineup.
"When they got those big guys playing there, it's always a challenge," McDavid said. "Obviously Nate (MacKinnon) does what he does, and (Cale) Makar is going to do the same and they got great pieces all around them. So, it's still a difficult task for sure."

The Oilers are looking to avoid the run-and-gun style of play that ultimately lead to their downfall in last years postseason. The Avalanche outscored the Oilers 22-13 in the four-game series, averaging 5.5 goals per game. However, the Oilers have been on a solid run limiting opponent's chances as of late, allowing only 63 shots combined in their last three games.
"It feels better defensively out there. It feels like we're not getting hemmed in our zone for big stretches of time, not giving up as many shots or chances against," McDavid said. "That doesn't necessarily mean it's resulted in wins or keeping our goals against down, which is obviously the ultimate goal, but definitely feels better out there."
Despite limiting teams to an average of 21 shots per game in their last three home games, Edmonton is only 1-2 in those contests. The Oilers Captain believes they must strike the right balance between taking care of their own end, but not hampering their own offence.
"You got to play with anybody. You got to score a goal to win a game as well. They play offense better than a lot of teams are in the league and we got to do a job defensively, but at the same time we got to do our thing offensively as well," McDavid said. "We certainly don't want this game to be 7-6, but we can't sit back all night either."

LINEUP COMPETITION & CONUNDRUMS

The Oilers are coming off a very strong performance against the New York Islanders on Thursday where they went back to the 11 forwards and seven defenceman alignment that Head Coach Jay Woodcroft had so much success with at times last season.
To make the change, a forward needed to come out of the lineup and it was deemed that Warren Foegele would be the one to sit. The 26-year-old has had an up-and-down start to his season, between scoring big goals for the team like the game winner in Dallas last month and a short-handed goal against the Panthers, to missing time due to injury. As the Oilers have returned to almost full health, and players who did not start the season on the roster like Mattias Janmark and Klim Kostin have seized opportunity, the competition to stay in the Oilers lineup has heated up and good forwards are going to be forced to sit.
"Those are hard decisions because I don't think Warren did anything wrong to be pulled out of the lineup, but when the coaching staff makes a decision to alter your lineup in the way that we did, those are hard decisions to make," Woodcroft said. "We think Warren is a very good hockey player. He's been a good pro about it, and he is waiting for his turn to go back into the lineup. I think one of the side benefits of when you go 11-and-7 is it peaks a lot of people's attention -- not just the people that are out of the lineup, but some of the people that are in the lineup. What happened last game was that we got a result that we wanted."
The competition to stay in the lineup can also happen during a game. Against the Islanders, Markus Niemelainen only ended up playing 3:06 in the contest as the Oilers seventh defenceman. The Oilers ended up leaning heavily on Darnell Nurse who played 26:29 in the contest and Cody Ceci who played 23:12 as Edmonton defended their lead late in the game.
"I think Niemelainen is a very good hockey player. He brings a dimension to our team. I don't think we set out with the mindset to play Niemelainen in four minutes. That game played out in a certain fashion, and it was what it was. He made an impact on that game. He helped our team win," Woodcroft said. "I think different games play out different ways. All of that said, thought it was one of Philip Broberg's best game in an Edmonton Oilers uniform as well."

FROM SOUP TO STU

One person who will be getting their first crack at the Colorado Avalanche is Stuart Skinner.
The Oilers starter was playing third fiddle as Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen held the reigns to the Oilers crease last season, but that doesn't mean he wasn't there to witness the Avalanche snuffing out the Oilers Stanley Cup aspirations.
"I was fortunate enough to be in the stands and watch that series. It was a fun series to watch all the four games and obviously not the results that we obviously wanted, but that makes this game very exciting," Skinner said. "It gives us a chance to kind of try to give it back to these guys who swept us in the playoffs in the third round and yeah, time to get a revenge"
Skinner has been a solid option in the crease for Coach Woodcroft and company in his first full pro season. The 24-year-old sports a .914 save percentage and has picked up 12 victories for the Blue & Orange on the year. Due to his performance, Skinner was rewarded with a nice three-year contract extension back on Dec. 19, locking him in as a part of the Oilers goaltending tandem alongside Jack Campbell for the foreseeable future. According to Skinner, it's a very amicable partnership he hopes to build over the next several years.
"I think we've grown to really like each other. We've been able to get on the road with each other, go out for some dinners, and we've been having a lot of fun with each other," Skinner said about his goalie partner. "He's always giving me advice and even though I don't have much to give to him, he's always asking for some. I think we've been growing into a great friendship and a great partnership."
Skinner has been a bright spot in the Oilers season and has stepped up admirably while Campbell searched to find his game in his new local. Campbell appears to be
working his way back to the level that saw him named an NHL All-Star last season
, giving the Oilers two capable puck stoppers competing for the same net down the stretch.
"I think Jack's game is trending in the right direction. He's giving our team a chance to win," Woodcroft said. "I think we have two very good options in that for us."
"I'm obviously very happy for him. I think he's been playing great all season. Sometimes you don't get the results, but you're still playing a good game and that's what I thought about Soupy," Skinner said about Campbell. "He had a great game a couple of nights ago and super happy for him. He was solid. He was calm and collected out there. He was playing the puck like Marty Turco out there and it was fun to watch. Yeah, getting that added pressure is great. I mean, for both of us, we're always trying to be competitive with one another, try to make each other better every single day."
Although there is only one net, there are still plenty of starts to go around in the last 42 games of this season and beyond. Skinner looks forward to continuing to build the relationship he has with Campbell over the next several years and hopes the two drive one another to even greater goaltending heights.
"I don't think it really changes too much about what we're thinking in the future. I think for both of us, we're just both excited that we get to spend some time with each other, and we get to play with each other for the next three years," Skinner said. "I think that's really fun and I don't think I've had a goalie partner for more than three years, so this will be pretty cool."
-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. AVALANCHE
WATCH: 8:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet & Hockey Night in Canada
Oilers Team Scope
The Edmonton Oilers snapped a five-game winless skid at Rogers Place on Thursday night with a 4-2 victory over the visiting New York Islanders.
Isles netminder Ilya Sorokin had shut out the Oilers for 63 shots and 69:26 of game action this season until Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring midway through a dominant first period from Edmonton that ended with a 17-4 shot advantage and 2-0 lead. Kailer Yamamoto scored his first goal in eight games shorthanded with 1:40 left in the opening frame.
After giving up leads in four of their five straight losses at home, the Oilers bench kept a cool head when Mathew Barzal made it a one-goal game in the second period. Dylan Holloway one-timed his second career NHL goal past Sorokin four minutes later before Zach Hyman notched his 18th of the season on a breakaway.
Cal Clutterbuck scored in the second period's final minute, but the Oilers kept their composure to shut down the Islanders the rest of the way and break the winless 0-4-1 skid on home ice.
"Nice to get a win at home. It's been a little while, too long for us," Hyman said. "I think we started off really well, and I think that we made an emphasis of playing a full 60."
"I think even though they got that goal at the end of the second period, we didn't fall off our game. We didn't deter. We just kept playing our game, weren't on our heels. We were pushing the pace and I think that's what you need to do."

Avalanche Team Scope
The reigning Stanley Cup champions are enduring one of their most difficult stretches of the season thanks to some injury woes beginning to catch up with the rest of the team.
The Avalanche have lost a season-high five straight games after suffering a 4-2 defeat to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, going 0-4-1 during that stretch and getting outscored 23-13 in the process. It was a similar story to Edmonton's recent struggles at home for the Avalanche after a taking a 2-0 lead before a lapse in the second period led to three goals against and a 3-2 deficit heading into the final frame.
Colorado hasn't lost six straight games since the 2018-19 season when they lost eight straight from Jan. 21-Feb. 12, 2019 (0-5-3), but have enjoyed a 172-75-25 record and one Stanley Cup championship since then.
The Avalanche are among the NHL leaders in man games lost to injury this season with 220, including netminder Pavel Francouz who starred in Colorado's four-game defeat of Edmonton in last season's Western Conference Final. Alexandar Georgiev has been tasked with taking on the lion's share of assignments in the Avalanche crease, starting each of their last 10 games and losing five consecutive starts while allowing 20 goals in those losses. The Russian netminder is 0-4-1 in his last five starts with a 4.37 goals-against average and .869 save percentage.

By The Numbers
Jesse Puljujarvi is set to play in his 300th career game... Mattias Janmark needs two assists to reach 100 for his career... Ryan Nugent-Hopkins needs one point to tie Doug Weight (577) for the ninth-most in Oilers history...
Three Oilers players sit atop the NHL in power-play points this season: Connor McDavid (38), Leon Draisaitl (29) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (26)... McDavid's 38 power-play points are tied for the sixth-most in NHL history through the first 40 games of a season... Draisaitl's 107 career power-play goals are tied with Jari Kurri for the fourth-most in Oilers history... Draisaitl has 23 points in 17 career games vs. the Avalanche (5G, 18A), but just one power-play goal in those games...
Mikko Rantanen has scored 26 of 106 Avalanche goals this season (24.5 percent)... That is the highest percent of team goals scored in the NHL, trailed next by Connor McDavid (23.2 percent)... Rantanen has a team-high 26 goals this season, while no other player on the Avalanche has more than nine goals... Nathan MacKinnon needs one goal to tie Anton Stastny for the 5th-most in franchise history... MacKinnon has 20 points in 19 career games vs. the Oilers (6G, 14A), and seven points during his current four-game point streak vs. them (4G, 3A)...

Injury Report
OILERS - Oscar Klefbom (shoulder) is on IR; Mike Smith (undisclosed) is on IR; Evander Kane (wrist) is on IR; Ryan Murray (undisclosed) is on IR.
AVALANCHE - Evan Rodrigues (upper body) is day-to-day; Pavel Francouz (lower body) is on IR; Valeri Nichushkin (ankle) is day-to-day; Josh Manson (lower body) is on IR; Bowen Byram (lower body) is on IR; Gabriel Landeskog (knee) is on IR.
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com