last year Tyler Johnson Jersey , and now the country music star will be taking his talents outside to play a league event.Urban will perform during the first intermission of the Stadium Series outdoor game in Philadelphia between the Penguins and Flyers on Feb. 23, the NHL announced Wednesday, making him the latest high-profile music act to play a league event following Weezer at the Winter Classic and Bebe Rexha at All-Star Weekend.“We’re thrilled that these artists are now considering our events to be of the highest level and incredible exposure for them,” NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer said. “For us as the NHL, we’re just looking for the biggest artists we can find, and we think that Keith Urban transcends all of that.”Urban has no connection to the Flyers or Penguins, but he and wife Nicole Kidman are Nashville Predators fans, and he sang the national anthem during their 2017 playoff run. Urban and Kidman got to spend some time with the Cup in April when the NHL had it in Nashville during the playoffs, one step toward getting them more involved with hockey.“Keith really has fallen in love with the game, fallen in love with hockey, thinks this is a really cool opportunity and wants to work with us more and more promoting the game Victor Hedman Jersey ,” Mayer said.Years ago, the NHL was the subject of some jokes for booking Billy Idol and other artists past their prime for big events. When Mayer joined the NHL in 2015, he wanted to up the entertainment value with the artists playing for big hockey audiences.One way to do that was expanding the kinds of acts the league was looking for.“We’ve also opened up our musical entertainment to other genres other than classic rock,” Mayer said. “We do know that our fans love classic rock and we’re not shying away from it, but we also are looking to bring in more casual fans and going to what they love in the music world.”The other goal is to get music fans into hockey, with Mayer saying, “If we get some Keith Urban fans to watch the game in Philadelphia and they would’ve normally not watched the game, we win.”Canadian band Glorious Sons will play pregame festivities outside Lincoln Financial Field and then during the second intermission. Now that the Edmonton Oilers are back home, their immediate focus is on ending a three-game losing streak in which they gave up an average of more than four goals per game.Continuing to slow down their next opponent’s top line can go a long way toward getting back in the win column.Edmonton looks to extend the Colorado Avalanche’s skid Sunday night when the teams hit the ice at Rogers Place in the first of three meetings this season.Article continues below ...The Oilers opened a four-game road trip with a narrow victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 3 before losing to the Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers by a combined 13-5.“You never want to lose, but you never want to lose three in a row Yanni Gourde Jersey ,” winger Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said Saturday. “We can’t let it be four in a row. Good teams don’t let that happen, so we’ve got to respond well tomorrow.”Coach Todd McLellan said he believes that scoring chances were there but that the club just could not capitalize.“When you look at just the goal total itself, you’re going ‘Jeez, they’re not creating anything’,” McLellan said Saturday. “In each of the games that we lost on the road trip, I thought we created numerous opportunities.”Edmonton (8-7-1) took five of a possible six points from Colorado last season, and is looking for two wins in a row at home over the Avalanche for the first time since 2013.Colorado (7-6-3) is trying to avoid its sixth straight loss after falling 5-2 to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night. After a 6-1-2 start, the Avalanche are 1-5-1, allowing 29 goals in that span.“I think leaders on this team got to get on this now,” Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson said. “We’ve got to stop the bleeding and string some wins together here.”A reason for the Avalanche’s struggles is decreased production from the top line of Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon.The trio caught the attention of fans when they combined for 20 goals and 23 assists over the first nine games of the season. They’ve totaled seven goals and 14 assists in seven games since.“The best thing to do is just play in the offensive zone. Don’t give them a chance to start creating and feeling good about their games Auston Matthews Jersey ,” Nugent-Hopkins said.The player among the three to have the biggest downturn is MacKinnon. The top overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft tallied 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) during Colorado’s hot start, but has seven points (three goals, four assists) in the club’s slump.“It’s no fun right now, but we have to get right back on it, play on Sunday and try to dig ourselves out,” Johnson said.Another key for the Avalanche is to get off to a quick start on the scoreboard. The club has trailed after one period in four of the last seven games.Then there’s trying to slow down Connor McDavid. The two-time scoring champion has scored six of his seven goals versus Colorado in the last three meetings and also has eight assists in eight games against the Avalanche.McDavid, who has points in 14 of 16 games this season, notched his fourth career hat trick in Edmonton’s 4-2 win over Colorado on Feb. 18 in Denver.Colorado’s Tyson Barrie needs one assist to reach 200 for his career. He will try to join Adam Foote (203) and John-Michael Liles (207) as the only defensemen in club history with 200 helpers.