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Oilers hope to return to win column in Colorado

Jan 2, 2015 - 4:06 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Edmonton Oilers hope to prevent another losing streak from taking shape on Friday night as they take on the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center.

The Oilers halted a nine-game slide with Tuesday's shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings, but was bested 4-3 in overtime the following night by the Calgary Flames. Edmonton failed to hold a pair of leads and was denied the win when Calgary's Josh Jooris, coming out of the penalty box, finished off a 2- on-1 rush 1:08 into overtime with a goal.

Jordan Eberle, Andrew Ference and Matt Fraser all lit the lamp for the Oilers, while Ben Scrivens allowed four goals on 28 shots in the loss.

Edmonton fell to 2-14-7 in its last 23 games.

"It's somewhat frustrating, but I think we can take a couple things out of this game," Oilers coach Todd Nelson said. "On the tail end of a back-to-back, that's a solid effort."

Defenseman Keith Aulie will miss the next two games for the Oilers as he was handed a suspension for an illegal check to the head of Calgary's Matt Stajan, while forward Tyler Pitlick landed on injured reserve due to a lacerated spleen.

Edmonton did recall center Anton Lander from the American Hockey League and forward Benoit Pouliot is in line to return tonight from an 18-game absence caused by a broken foot. He skated on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle on Thursday.

There also are continued reports that the Oilers are set to send rookie forward Leon Draisaitl to the Western Hockey League as early as Friday. He had two assists in the loss to the Flames and has totaled two goals and seven helpers in 37 games this season.

The Avalanche eye a second straight win tonight after snapping a two-game slide with Wednesday's 4-3 overtime victory against the Philadelphia Flyers. Ryan O'Reilly had the winner with 19.9 seconds left on the clock as he snapped home a pass from defenseman Tyson Barrie.

"I wanted to win the draw and then get the puck back," said O'Reilly. "It was a good pass from Tyson and I just wanted to get it on net. It was a great game tonight and this win is a team effort."

Nate Guenin and Jarome Iginla scored and Borna Rendulic became the first Croatian-born player to score a goal in the NHL. Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves.

Friday marks the first of three meetings this season between the Avs and Oilers. Colorado has won the past two encounters overall and four of the last six at home.

Varlamov is 5-8-0 lifetime versus the Oilers with a 3.25 goals against average and .892 save percentage, while Scrivens is 0-1-1 when facing the Avs with a 2.45 GAA and .924 save percentage.