Oilers have to find a road win in the toughest of places
Colorado is the NHL's last undefeated team at home
Last Updated: Sunday, November 8, 2009 | 12:11 PM ET
By Malcolm Kelly, CBC Sports
Colorado Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson will be trying to stare down Edmonton's Dustin Penner on Sunday night. (Jimmy Jeong/Canadian Press) Into every coach's life some rain must fall, but right now it's coming in hard and sideways at Pat Quinn.
The first-year Edmonton Oilers bench boss has weathered a lot of storms in his life, however, and that may be the key to getting this club through its current turbulent stretch.
Sunday night in Colorado, the Oil bring one of the league's worst travelling road shows into Denver to play the NHL's best home club (8 p.m. ET) with all sorts of troubles packed in their old kit bags.
Most important is that the Oilers (7-8-1) cannot score, having found the net on just three occasions in losing three straight.
And that, more than anything, has Quinn annoyed.
"We've got guys who are supposed to be scorers that don't put the puck anywhere near the net. That's the disappointing part," the coach said after watching his club lose 4-2 to the New York Rangers at home on Thursday.
"You don't get many goals if you don't shoot it."
Winger Dustin Penner is doing his part, compiling 19 points and hanging around the top 15 on the league stat sheets. He also has nine goals, but that's five more than the next nearest total (five players with four each).
Edmonton is currently facing a strange, baseball-like schedule of seven in eight on the road, followed by five straight at home, six on the road and four at home.
And they aren't any good right now away from northern Alberta, winning at Nashville on Oct. 12 to open the year and then losing the next five.
"Sometimes it works in your favour when you get on the road ... when you can get the guys together and get more of a positive energy surround our team," said Oilers captain Ethan Moreau, perhaps whistling by the graveyard a touch.
"It's worked to our advantage in the past, and hopefully that's the case."
Going on the road for a long trip a week ago straightened out the previously awful Toronto Maple Leafs, so you don't have to look far for an example.
Colorado's not-so-secret weapon
There must be an easier place to get a trip underway than the Pepsi Center, however. Colorado (7-2-1) is the last team in the NHL without a loss on home ice this season (6-0), extended by beating Chicago in a shootout on Friday night.
You don't have to look far for the reason the west's worst club a year ago has suddenly turned it around — goaltending.
Summer acquisition Craig Anderson is 11-3-2 with a 2.15 goals-against average, and on Friday he made seven stops in the extended shootout.
"He gives us a chance to win every night, and he did it again tonight," head coach Joe Sacco said.
The Avs are getting balanced scoring to help things along, led by set-up man Paul Stastny's 12 assists on 16 points, and 14 from rookie Ryan O'Reilly and Wojtek Wolski.
Defenceman Kyle Quincey has 19 points from the back end.
With files from The Canadian Press
