A victory tonight would make this five-game homestand a success for the Edmonton Oilers. They’d be 3-1-1 with a .600 winning percentage and .700 points percentage on this homestand.

Currently, only three NHL teams have higher win percentages, and only three have a higher points percentage on home ice.

The loss to the Buffalo Sabres two nights ago wasn’t ideal, especially how the Oilers played in the second period, but Edmonton has to move on from that and focus on beating a Detroit Red Wings team playing their third game in four nights and wrapping up the second half of a back-to-back. They defeated Vancouver 4-0 on Monday and won 4-3 in Calgary last night. This is another “scheduling advantage” game for the Oilers.

A victory would give them three wins in five games and seven of 10 possible points. Those numbers aren’t that common in the NHL this season.

Only three teams have a .700 points percentage or better at home:

Colorado: .923 (11-0-2).

Anaheim: .733 (11-4).

Dallas: .700 (10-4-1).

If the Oilers win tonight, they’d have a .700 points percentage on the homestand, and they’d improve to .679 points percentage on the season at home, which would rank fifth in the NHL.

They’d also become only the ninth team with a home winning percentage above a .570.

Colorado: .846 (11 of 13).

Anaheim: .733 (11 of 15).

Boston: .668 (11 of 16).

Dallas: .667 (10 of 15).

New Jersey: .643 (9 of 14)

Carolina and Washington: .625 (10 of 16).

Philadelphia: .588 (10 of 17).

A win would give Edmonton a .571 (8 of 14) on home ice.

The Oilers are playing better recently, but they’ve yet to find that extra gear consistently to generate a winning streak of at least three games. Tonight’s game is important to make the homestand look good, but also because after tonight the Oilers have a tough stretch of six games in nine nights, in six different cities. They play in Toronto (Saturday), Montreal (Sunday), Pittsburgh (next Tuesday), Boston (next Thursday), Minnesota (Saturday the 20th) and then home on Sunday the 21st against Vegas.

They only have one other similar stretch the rest of the season when they host L.A. on January 10th, are in Chicago (Jan. 12th) and Nashville (Jan. 13th), home to the New York Islanders (Jan. 15th), in Vancouver (Jan. 17th) and home to St. Louis (Jan. 18th). The difference is these six games in nine nights have a travel distance of 7,392 km, while the trip starting Saturday has a total distance of 8,324 km.

Every team can earn a maximum of two points in any regular season game, but I think some have more significance due to opponents, timing and future scheduling. After tonight, the Oilers embark on a five-game road trip, and they haven’t been good on the road this season.

They’ve are 6-8-3. They rank 29th in win percentage at .353 with only Nashville (.333), Calgary (.277) and Buffalo (.214) behind them. Edmonton is 26th in points percentage at .441 with Utah (.421), Toronto and Nashville (.417), San Jose (.357), Calgary (.333) and Buffalo (.286) below them.

After losing to the worst road team in the NHL two days ago, Edmonton needs to respond with a much better effort tonight against the Red Wings and give themselves some confidence as they head out East for the third, and final, time this season.

SNAPSHOTS…

— John Gibson won in Vancouver and Calgary, so former Oiler, Cam Talbot, will get the start tonight for the Red Wings. Since leaving Edmonton in 2019, Talbot has made six starts against the Oilers and he is 3-1-2 with a .927Sv% and 2.17 GAA. He did make one relief appearance, which was the infamous Talbot/Mike Smith scrap on February 1st, 2020. Talbot came in for David Rittich, who was pulled 23 minutes into the game after allowing four goals. Talbot played 16 minutes, allowed two goals on 21 shots, but then had a scrap with Smith late in the second period and was kicked out of the game.

— Since leaving Edmonton, Todd McLellan has coached Los Angeles and Detroit. McLellan was 4-7-2 against the Oilers with the Kings (and 5-8 in the playoffs), but he is 2-0-1 with Detroit including a 4-2 victory earlier this season.

— Dylan Larkin had two goals and four points against the Oilers in the victory in October, getting in on every goal, while Emmitt Finnie scored the first two goals of his NHL career. It was Finnie’s only multi-goal game and multi-point game (2-1—3) of his career thus far. Larkin has 19 points in 19 career games against Edmonton, but that was his only multi-goal game.

— Detroit has won three games in a row and sit in first place in the Atlantic Division with 37 points. They are one point ahead of both Boston and Tampa Bay. The Wings are trying to avoid missing the playoffs for a 10th consecutive season. The last time they made the playoffs, Connor McDavid was a rookie in 2015-16.

— The Oilers are 3-0-2 in their last five home games against Detroit, with both losses coming in the shootout. McDavid has produced 3-12-15 in nine home games v. the Wings, while Leon Draisaitl has scored 4-6-10 in eight games.

— Trent Frederic needed 14 stitches after taking a deflected puck to the face in practice yesterday. Tough break.

— Matt Savoie could become the 10th Oilers’ rookie in the salary cap era to score 10 goals in a season.

13: Sam Gagner and Tom Gilbert

15: Magnus Paajarvi

16: Connor McDavid

17: Nail Yakupov

18: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Andrew Cogliano

22: Taylor Hall

Savoie is quietly having a solid rookie campaign. He’s starting to find his offensive groove with 4-1-5 in his last seven games.

LINEUPS…

Oilers…

RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Savoie
Janmark – Henrique – Mangiapane
Frederic – Lazar – Tomasek

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Regula
Kulak – Emberson

Skinner

No lineup changes for the Oilers. They only have 12 healthy forwards and six defensemen. Look for them to place Jake Walman on LTIR, retroactive to November 20th so they can recall a forward and defender for their upcoming five-game road trip. Walman would be eligible to return in Pittsburgh, but he won’t be ready. Noah Philp and Connor Clattenburg won’t be available for at least the first two games of the trip, and maybe longer, so the Oilers need an extra forward in case of injury.

Red Wings…

Finnie – Larkin – Raymond
DeBrincat – Copp – Kane
Soderblom – Danielson – Kasper
van Riemsdyk – Compher – Rasmussen

Johansson – Seider
Chiarot – Sandin-Pellikka
Gustafsson – Hamonic

Talbot

Alex DeBrincat, Larkin and Lucas Raymond are all averaging over a point/game thus far, while Patrick Kane has 21 points in the 22 games he’s played. They have two productive duos the Oilers need to be leery of. The Red Wings have a very good young D corps led by Moritz Seider (24 years old), Simon Edvinsson (22), Axil Sandin-Pellikka (21) and Albert Johansson (24). The rumour mill has them interested in Quinn Hughes, and a main reason why is they could offer up some quality young defenders in a package to acquire him. I wouldn’t move Seider or Edvinsson if I was Steve Yzerman, but Sandin-Pellikka would be a solid piece to build a package around.

TONIGHT…

GDB 31 Photoshop Connor McDavid Stuart Skinner Edmonton Oilers Santa

Photoshop by Tom Kostiuk

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Edmonton rebounds after a subpar performance and wins 4-2.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: McDavid produces his fifth multi-point game in his last six games.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Vasily Podkolzin sets a career high with points in four consecutive games.

MONTH OF GIVING…

Thanks to Doug for his great bid on the Culligan package yesterday.

DAY NINE: Package #1: Dinner for six at Chop Steakhouse, Ellerslie or Downtown.

You and five guests will dine with Kevin Karius, Eddie Steele, Brandon Douglas and Ladislav Smid from the Sports 1440 Morning Show
Five-course dinner with wine pairings and your choice of beverages in their private room. Great food and lots of laughs
The date will occur in the first six months of 2026

All money will support The Christmas Bureau

Package #2: Whisky tasting and holiday beverages from Sherbrooke Liquor

A Fireside favourites collection — four of the finest winter beers and two great ciders. This is your holiday hosting starter kit.
You get The Duke, the amazing single malt cream liquor from Anohka Distillery, a gorgeous pre-dinner Champagne, one red, one white, and a Port digestif to finish the night.
And a private whisky tasting and blending event in Sherbrooke’s tasting room for you and 14 of your closest friends, hosted with Bridgeland Distillery. You’ll learn how whisky is crafted, taste through the components, create your own custom blend, and Bridgeland will bottle it back at the distillery — with your name and custom blend name on the label.
All your guests get a bottle, and you get THREE. They only do two of these events a year — and Bridgeland has opened a one-off, exclusive spot just for this auction.

You can bid via text between 2-6 p.m. on Sports 1440 by texting 833.401.1440 (can call the same number) and include your name and donation amount. All money raised will go to The Christmas Bureau.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365

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