Since the calendar turned to 2020, the Edmonton Oilers have owned the Nashville Predators.

The domination began with a 4-2 win on January 14, 2020, and since then, the Oilers are 14-1-1, outscoring the Predators 72-36. Edmonton has scored four-plus goals 11 times while allowing two goals or fewer 11 times. They’ve won nine games by three-plus goals, outscored them 42-27 at five-on-five, their power play is 42.9 percent (21 goals on 49 opportunities) and their penalty kill is 83 percent (killed off 39 of 47).

They’ve outscored the Predators 25-12 in the first period, 23-15 in the second frame and 23-8 in the final period. Overtime is the time the teams have been close with each scoring one goal. They are 8-1 when scoring first and 6-0-1 when allowing the first goal.

Leon Draisaitl has 22 goals and 42 points in 16 games, while Connor McDavid has produced 12 goals and 37 points in 15 games. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (21 in 16 games) and Zach Hyman (14 in 13 games) are averaging over one point per game while Darnell Nurse has 14 points in 16 games and Evan Bouchard has 10 in 13 games. Other current Oilers who have averaged a point per game during this span include Curtis Lazar and Matt Savoie (one point in one game), and Kasperi Kapanen had two points in his only game last Tuesday in Edmonton.

The Oilers have feasted on the Predators for six years, and during that time, the Predators have been a middle-of-the-pack team. Nashville ranks 17th in regular-season wins in this span with 251. They are one back of Los Angeles (252), while the Oilers rank seventh with 291 wins. Nashville has been an amazing matchup for the Oilers, while the Predators hate it. When you look at the Western Conference in that span, it is odd how Edmonton has been able to dominate the Predators more than below-average teams. Here’s a look at all the teams in the Western Conference the Oilers have double-digits over since 2019/2020. The last column reflects how many games the teams have won.

The Oilers have become Nashville’s kryptonite, and Edmonton will have loads of confidence when they skate into Nashville tonight.

However, the Predators are playing much better lately. They started the season with only six wins in their first 22 games (6-12-4), but they’ve found their stride lately going 15-8 in their last 23 and have clawed their way back into the playoff race. They are three points back of San Jose for the first Wildcard spot and only two points back of Los Angeles for the second wildcard position. They are in the playoff hunt, and they are tied for the eighth most points over their last 23 games and sit 10th in points percentage. Despite their recent success, the Oilers spanked them 6-2 last Tuesday in Edmonton. Granted it was the Predators’ final game of a seven-game road trip, but they did have two days rest before facing the Oilers.

But the outcome was similar to the previous 15 games. Edmonton outshot them 43-26, out-chanced them significantly and McDavid and Draisaitl each had three points and combined for four goals with McDavid scoring a hat trick. The Predators simply haven’t found a way to slow down McDavid or Draisaitl.

The last time McDavid didn’t score a point against the Predators was October 20th, 2018. He has points in 16 consecutive games since then for a total of 39 points. And he hasn’t even been the most productive Oiler. Draisaitl carries that torch with his insane 42 points in 16 games.  And to add more insanity to the Oilers’ domination, McDavid enters tonight’s game on a 19-game point streak with a total of 44 points.

There are no guarantees in sports, which is why we love it, but right now the closest thing to a guarantee is McDavid and Draisaitl producing points and leading their team to victory in Nashville. Draisaitl has 13 goals and 21 points in his last seven games in Nashville, while McDavid has 16 points in six games. In the game McDavid missed (October 31st, 2024), Draisaitl scored two goals and three points.

McDavid and Draisaitl love playing in Nashville, and the moment they walk in the rink they will be flooded with positive thoughts about recent results. Those positive thoughts are extremely powerful. It gives then energy, and Nashville will need to try and chip away at the Oilers’ confidence, because the entire team will have it.

Oilersnation hopes that leads to another victory.

— After last night’s 4-1 victory in Chicago the Oilers are 3-5 in the first half of back-to-back games. They are 1-3-3 in the second half, but their only win came in their last set of BTB games when they defeated Vegas 4-3. In 2024, the Oilers were 5-3-2 on the first half of BTB and 5-5 on the second night, and last season they were 8-5-1 on the first night and 7-7 on the second. They struggled early this season on the second half of BTB, but maybe the win over Vegas reminded them they are capable of playing well the second night.

— With his two points last night, McDavid is now tied for the 23rd most points during any point streak of 15+ games. Those with more:

Gretzky: Eleven times with points totals of 153, 108, 76, 66, 64, 63, 57, 55, 51, 48 and 47.

Mario Lemieux: Three times, 103, 59 and 51 points.

Steve Yzerman: Two times with 65 and 50 points.

Guy Lafleur (61), Paul Coffey (55), Bryan Trottier (55), Sidney Crosby (50), Brett Hull (46) and Mats Sundin (46) did it once.

— McDavid needs one point tonight to become the 20th player in NHL history with a point streak of 20+ games.

— Last night McDavid became the fifth player in NHL history with 10 consecutive seasons with 50+ assists, joining Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey and Dale Hawerchuk (13) and Bernie Federko (10). Gretzky is the only one with 10+ consecutive seasons with 60+ assists. He had 13 straight seasons with 80+ assists, 12 with 90+ assists and 11 seasons with 100+ assists. McDavid is 10 assists shy of becoming the second player with 10 consecutive seasons with 60+ assists.

— McDavid turns 29 years young today. He is one of only seven players in NHL history to register 1,000+ points before their 29th birthday.

— Last night, Draisaitl extended his point streak against Chicago to 20 games. He has 16-22-38 in since October 28th, 2018. He’s played 28 career games against Chicago and has more 3+ point games (6) than zero-point games (4).

— Edmonton is 5-0 in their “Cream” jerseys this season. They will wear them again tonight, but tonight is the final game they are scheduled to wear them.

— The Oilers activated Tristan Jarry and Jake Walman from LTIR earlier today. They moved Adam Henrique to LTIR to make the salary cap work, and they moved Connor Ingram from the emergency recall roster to the regular roster. Because Ingram was on emergency roster, his 10 games played starts now. However, because he’s been on the roster for 25 days, he only has four more days before he requires waivers. Something to monitor.