After dropping both games of a home-and-away back-to-back against the Stars and Kraken earlier this week, the Oilers will return home on Saturday to host the third and final Battle of Alberta this season. Edmonton and the visiting Calgary Flames are both desperate for a win, so this game should have a playoff atmosphere.
1. The Flames defeated the Oilers 4-1 in their third game of the year back in October, dropping Edmonton to 0-3-0 early in the season. A few weeks later, the Oilers bounced back with a 4-2 victory in Calgary, evening the season series at one win each.
This Saturday, Edmonton has a chance to secure their third straight season series win in the Battle of Alberta. The last time Calgary claimed the series was in 2019-20, winning three of four games.
2. Winning the Pacific Division appears to be a stretch for the Oilers at this point. A five-game winning streak has the Vegas Golden Knights nine points up on Edmonton and both teams have 10 games remaining. Even with a four-point game on the schedule in Vegas next week, that’s a lot of ground for the Oilers to make up without much runway.
The race that matters more now is the one for home-ice advantage in the annual first-round playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers are two points back of the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division with one more game played. The two teams will meet twice in April, once in L.A. and once in Edmonton.
The Oilers have beaten the Kings in the first round three years in a row now. They won Game 7 in Los Angeles in 2022, they finished off the Kings on the road in Game 6 in 2023, and they completed the Game 5 gentleman’s sweep at home in Edmonton in 2024.
3. The most important thing for the Oilers over the final three weeks of the regular season is getting healthy. They can beat the Kings as the road team in the first round if they’re at full strength, but they’ll be at a disadvantage regardless of the standings if they’re missing either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl during the series.
Driasaitl will participate in Edmonton’s morning skate on Saturday and Jason Gregor says there’s a decent chance he’ll play against the Flames. Head coach Kris Knoblauch said earlier this week that Draisaitl would be back sooner than McDavid but there isn’t a specific timeline for the captain’s return.
Winnipeg defenceman Josh Morrissey landed a quick crosscheck on McDavid’s hip during Edmonton’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Jets back on March 20. McDavid left that game and has missed three games since because of a lower-body injury.
4. The Flames had a four-game winning streak snapped on Thursday when they lost 5-2 to the Dallas Stars at home. They need a win against the Oilers in order to keep up with the St. Louis Blues, who have vaulted themselves into a playoff spot with eight consecutive wins.
Calgary is six points back of the Blues for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with three games in hand. The Vancouver Canucks are also between the Flames and that second Wild Card position, two points up on Calgary and four points behind St. Louis.
5. The Flames rank 31st in the NHL with 185 goals scored and they’re 13th with 209 goals against. Calgary has a middling power play that has scored on 21.5 percent of its chances while their 74.63 percent penalty kill is below league average.
6. Nazem Kadri is leading the Flames with 30 goals while Jonathan Huberdeau is leading the team with 58 points. Mackenzie Weegar has the produced most offence from Calgary’s blueline this season with seven goals and 41 points in 70 games.
7. Rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf has been excellent for the Flames in his first full NHL season. The team’s seventh-round pick from the 2019 draft has a 24-15-5 record and a .909 save percentage over 44 appearances.
That said, the 23-year-old has been going through a rough stretch lately. Wolf has gone 2-3-0 over his last five starts while allowing 18 goals on 129 shots. Most recently, he allowed four goals on 18 shots in Calgary’s loss to Dallas as the Flames more than doubled the Stars in shots.
8. The Flames also lost forward Connor Zary to injury in that game against the Stars. In the third period, Dallas forward Mikko Rantanen collided awkwardly with Zary and he fell to the ice holding his knee. Zary has already dealt with a knee injury this season, so this is bad news for the young forward.
