Eurolanche

Avalanche seeking fifth straight win

Season series: The Edmonton Oilers went 2-0-1 against the Colorado Avalanche in 2014-15. Forward Andrew Miller, who played in only two of the games, led Edmonton in scoring with five assists and forward Anton Lander contributed four assists. Taylor Hall had two goals for the Oilers. Ryan O'Reilly had two goals and two assists for Colorado.

Oilers team scope: Edmonton closes a four-game road trip having lost two in a row, following a six-game winning streak. "We want to finish this road trip off on a good note, go out and get the win and get back to .500 on the trip,'' forward Leon Draisaitl told the Oilers website. After being shut out 4-0 by the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, coach Todd McLellan juggled his top two lines at practice Friday. Draisaitl skated with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Hall, while Matt Hendricks skated with Jordan Eberle and Teddy Purcell. "[Thursday] night I didn't think we got very good performances out of some of our upper-end players," MacLellan said. "It's a starting point. It could change quickly." Forward Benoit Pouliot, who is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, could be activated and return to the lineup. "I think he'd be ready to contribute,'' said McLellan, who wouldn't commit to Anders Nilsson in goal, but said Nilsson and Cam Talbot will likely split the next four games.

Avalanche team scope: Colorado has won four straight games, sweeping a three-game road trip before opening a four-game homestand Thursday with a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov has won his past five starts, allowing five goals on 162 shots (.969 save percentage) "We're playing solid defensively," he said after the win against the Islanders. "Everything comes from defense. If we're playing solid defense, we're going to get success." Defenseman Francois Beauchemin, who scored twice in the win against the Islanders, has three goals and three assists in his past six games. The Avalanche have won nine of their past 13 games to get back to the .500 mark and play 10 of their next 12 games at home.

-- by Colin Stephenson for NHL.com --