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GDB 5.0: Oilers visit the streaking Devils for first matinee of the season (1:30PM MT, SNW)
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baggedmilk
Oct 18, 2025, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 18, 2025, 15:27 EDT
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We’ve got a Saturday matinee in New Jersey on deck as the Edmonton Oilers look to rebound after a sloppy 4–2 loss to the Islanders on Thursday night. What’s tricky about this first afternoon game of the season is that 1) we’re all traumatized from weird losses in daylight hours, even though the Oilers have actually been decent in matinees, and 2) the boys are still trying to find their rhythm five games into the year. To make the job tougher, they’re also running into a Devils team that’s feeling pretty good about itself after three straight wins. For an Edmonton club still searching for consistency, this is going to be a tough one.
Given how bad Thursday’s loss to the Islanders was — and the way they got there — there aren’t many positives to carry forward into New Jersey. Between the countless turnovers, blown assignments, and shoddy puck management, it looked like the boys were running a bakery out there and everyone got free snacks. Every mistake seemed to turn into either a dangerous chance that Stuart Skinner had to erase or a goal against at the worst possible time, and that lack of detail cost them what should have been a winnable game. If the boys want any shot at leaving Newark with two points, those bad habits have to stop now.
The Devils aren’t exactly a team you can afford to give free looks to, you know? They’re fast, creative, and more than capable of turning a broken play into goals. Led by Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and Luke Hughes, New Jersey has already piled up 14 goals in four games while converting on 23.1% of their power plays. They’re doing a better job of scoring at even strength than the Oilers right now, and when you combine that with a red-hot penalty kill (94.1%) and this three-game heater, you’ve got a tall order to fill. Beating them will take execution, and our side hasn’t done that nearly well enough so far on this road trip.
From an Oilers perspective, there are reasons to believe better days are coming because the spreadsheet boy numbers are strong. Through four games, Edmonton’s expected goals for percentage (54.19%) and Corsi For% (51.45%)  at even strength both suggest they’ve been driving play, and a little bit of luck could go a long way in shaking this early snake bite. At 5v5, the Oilers are also shooting a brutal 4.4%, which feels unsustainably low for a team with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and what we expect to be a lethal power play. They’re too good, they have too many weapons, and eventually the dam has to break. Right? Don’t leave me hanging now.
Even so, strong fancies only get you so far. At some point, the Oilers need to turn the good looks they’re getting into actual goals on the board, especially if the goaltending keeps doing its part. Even with the gaffe against Calgary that made everyone scream into pillows, Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have combined for a .939 team save percentage (5v5) through four games. That number should have them with a better record than 2–1–1. When you’re getting that kind of goaltending, the offence has to carry its share of the water, and right now they’re not doing any of that or chopping any wood for that matter.
The good news? The Devils haven’t exactly been airtight in their own zone, and they’ve been bleeding some chances. Despite their three-game win streak, they’ve allowed 12 goals in four games — nine of 14 GA even strength — and are giving up over 26 shots per night. What do I see? The Oilers shoot a ton, the Devils give up a lot of shots, so there has to be a successful formula in there for us somewhere. If the Oilers can bear down on a few chances, actually pass to their teammates instead of opponents, and take care of the puck with a little more composure, there’s opportunity here to turn the page on Thursday’s loss and get back in the win column. Maybe today is the day the Hockey Gords bless us with a little luck.
Let’s see what the numbers say…

THE NUMBERS

OILERS
DEVILS
RECORD
2-1-1
3-1-0
WIN/LOSS STREAK
L1
W3
GOALS FOR
10
14
GOALS AGAINST
9
12
POWER PLAY%
23.1
23.1
PENALTY KILL%
85.7
94.1
GOALS FOR/GAME
2.50
3.50
GOALS AGAINST/GAME
2.00
3.00
AVG. SHOTS/FOR
31.8
28.5
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST
23.0
26.3
TEAM SAVE%
.939
.877
CORSI FOR%
51.45
50.00
PDO
0.982
0.979
TEAM SHOOTING%
4.40
10.23
EXPECTED GOALS FOR%
54.19
50.00
Numbers courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (Sv%, CF%, PDO, Shooting%, xGF% all at 5×5)
  • Early starts, late collapses… The Oilers have outscored opponents 3–1 in first periods so far this season, but have been outscored 4–2 in thirds. They’ve gotta clean that up.
  • Special teams duel incoming? Both the Oilers and Devils are clicking at 23.1% on the power play, which has them tied for 9th in the NHL. You don’t see that every day.
  • Jesper Bratt’s has 16 points (8G, 8A) in 12 career games against Edmonton, including a 28.6% shooting percentage in those games. Every time the Oilers see him, he finds the scoresheet. That’s bad.
  • Stuart Skinner’s been sharp with a .921 save percentage and 1.97 GAA, but Jake Allen’s sitting at .957 and 1.20. Assuming Allen plays with Markstrom out, we might get a low-scoring game if both goalies maintain the numbers they’ve shown so far.
  • Lately, games between the Oilers and Devils have been tight. Five of the last seven matchups have been one-goal games, with New Jersey taking four of them.
  • Standings watching already? The Oilers are sitting in fourth in the Pacific Division behind Vegas, Vancouver, and Seattle. I want a division banner this year. I want it.

LINEUPS…

Oilers ***UPDATED***

Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Mangiapane
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Kapanen
Savoie – Frederic – Roslovic
Henrique – Tomasek – Lazar
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson
Pickard
The biggest thing the Oilers can do for themselves today is not be the ones to beat themselves. Make sense? They handled the puck like it was a live grenade on Long Island, and that’s the most fixable issue with the biggest potential payoff. Passes were either too short or too long — more rust than reason for concern, at least for now. The NHL site credited them with 17 giveaways against the Islanders, and it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out that even cutting that number in half would go a long way. Regardless of how the lines shake out, none of it matters unless the Oilers take better care of the puck. New Jersey will punish mistakes, and the best chance the boys have is to make as few of them as possible. Let’s lock it up.
Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard are expected to split the weekend’s matinee starts, with one getting the Devils today and the other drawing Detroit tomorrow. The Oilers took Friday off without a full practice, so we’ll have to wait until warmups at Prudential Center to find out who gets the net. In the meantime, here what’s listed are the lines from Thursday’s start until we get more info. I’ll update as news comes out. Lines are updated!

Devils

Palat – Hughes – Bratt
Meier – Hischier – Mercer
Gritsyuk – Glass – Brown
Cotter – Glendening – Halonen
Hughes – Pesce
Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Dillon – Nemec
Allen
Timo Meier has three straight games with a goal (and five points total). He leads New Jersey in both goals, points, and shots (17), and a guy Edmonton needs to key in on. Not to be outdone, Jesper Bratt has points in all four games to start the year (2G, 3A, 5PTS). His mix of speed and playmaking has been driving a lot of offence, and the boys will be best served eliminating as much of his time and space as possible.

TONIGHT…

GDB PhotoshopEdmonton Oilers Leon Draisaitl New Jersey Devils
GDB PhotoshopEdmonton Oilers Leon Draisaitl New Jersey Devils
Game Day Prediction: Oilers bounce from a tough loss with much tighter execution. The result? A clean 4-2 win.
Obvious Game Day Prediction: Connor McDavid hasn’t scored in the first four games. It angers him. He rectifies the issue with a “how did he do that?” highlight reel goal. Also, Connor Brown scores against us because of course he will.
Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Need a dose of depth? I’ve got David Tomasek finally converting on one of his many chances.

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