Open Thread: Edmonton Oilers at Colorado Avalanche (7:30 p.m.)

Here we are at Game 82 of the regular season with the postseason on the horizon in just a matter of days. The game at hand must be played even though both the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche are locked into their playoff seeding and have essentially nothing to play for. However, valuable points are on the line as Nathan MacKinnon still chases the Art Ross trophy and the franchise record in points. Another wrinkle to this game is if Colorado or Edmonton finishes with more points as they sit at 105 and 104 respectively, which might matter in a potential round three meeting, therefore there’s still intrigue in the matchup.

Colorado Avalanche

There’s not much to play for in this contest other than helping MacKinnon pad his stats but the Avalanche do need a bounce back game from the back-to-back ugly losses over the weekend. Just some recalibration and getting back to playing the right way will go a long way to being ready for Game 1 in Winnipeg this weekend. Barring a last minute change the full regular roster is expected to play tonight with Justus Annunen in net.

Projected Lines

Jonathan Drouin (27) - Nathan MacKinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)

Artturi Lehkonen (62) - Casey Mittelstadt (37) - Valeri Nichushkin (13)

Brandon Duhaime (12) - Ross Colton (20) - Miles Wood (28)

Andrew Cogliano (11) - Yakov Trenin (73) - Zach Parise (9)

Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)

Jack Johnson (3) - Josh Manson (42)

Caleb Jones (82) - Sean Walker (26)

Justus Annunen (60)

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