Avs play season’s final road game in Edmonton
Edmonton goalie Dubnvk makes save 4/5/10
This is the sixth (final) game of the season between these two former WHA teams. The Avs lead the season series 3 games to 2, having won the last 2 games.
Edmonton Oilers 25-46-8 58 points Last 10 games 4-5-1
5th in Northwest Division
15th in Western Conference
30th (last) overall in NHL
This is the final home game in the season from hell that has been the Edmonton Oilers in 2009-10. They are dead last in the NHL, 14 points below Toronto, who is last in the Eastern Conference and 20 points below Columbus, who is 14th in the West.
They finish the season this weekend in Southern California, playing Saturday in Los Angeles and Sunday in Anaheim.
Dustin Penner leads the OIl in scoring with 31 goals and 29 assists for 60 points. Sam Gagner is second with 15 goals and 26 assists for 41 points.
The absence of goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who has been out since November, is a large part of the Oilers downfall. He reportedly skated with the team on Monday, but is officially out until training camp.
Taking his place are Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, with a record of 15-27-4, and Devan Dubnyk, who was in the net for the Oilers win Monday over Minnesota. His record is 3-10-2.
Colorado Avalanche 43-29-7 93 points Last 10 games 3-6-1
2nd in Northwest Division
8th in Western Conference
After struggling through the last three weeks, the Avs achieved their goal, clinching the final Western Division playoff spot with Tuesday’s victory over Vancouver. The Avs have an outside chance to move up to sixth or seventh. They will finish out the regular season with home games against playoff-bound Chicago and Los Angeles.
Leading the Avs in scoring is Paul Stastny. He has 20 goals and 58 assists for 78 points. Next is Chris Stewart, who has 28 goals and 36 assists for 64 points.
Craig Anderson, who made his 70th start of the season against Vancouver Tuesday, is the Avs top goalie. His record is 38-25-6. Peter Budaj is his backup with a 5-4-1 record.
Bruce Wilkie is a Colorado semi-native, having moved to Denver in 1971. He has worked with pro and college hockey teams since 1975 and now covers the Avs for thehockeywriters.com.
