Northwest division rivals the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers square off Thursday night at Rexall Place.

NHL Betting Odds are not yet available for this matchup.

The Oilers will catch a break – and they need all the breaks they can get – as the Avalanche will be playing the second game of a back-to-back, after visiting the Canucks in Vancouver on Wednesday.

Colorado has surprised many this season, and was leading the Northwest division heading into Wednesday’s action with a 12-7-1 record. Edmonton has had a poor season so far, going 5-10-4.

The Avs are the second highest scoring team in the NHL, averaging 3.6 goals per game. However, Colorado is also giving up 3.00 goals each game. The Oilers are averaging 2.58 GPG and are the worst-rated defensive team in the league, allowing 4.05 GPG.

With Edmonton’s poor defensive performance, it would make sense that the team has the worst shots against in the league at 35.6 per game, allows the most power play goals in the league with 1.3 per game, and has the worst penalty killing in the league 68.4%.

Head-to-head, Colorado is 5-4-0-1 in the past 10 meetings. This is the first meeting of the season. The teams last squared off on April 7 last season, a 5-4 Oilers home win as a -100 moneyline favorite.