A four-game road trip continues for the Edmonton Oilers Monday night, jaunting on an hour flight from Detroit to Columbus, set to square up with the 3-3-1 Blue Jackets. The puck drop is set for 5:00 p.m. MST.

1. One key to the Oilers wins so far this season? Fighting. For as much as many want to see it removed from the game, it’s provided positive sparks time and time again for the Oilers this season, including Sunday against the Red Wings, when Corey Perry got retribution for a hit on his teammate Derek Ryan.

According to our good friends at Hockey Fights, the Oilers have had five fights in four games so far this season, winning all four of them.

The only one of these fights that came when the Oilers were leading in the game was Nurse’s against Pettersson, which was about the latter’s hit on Viktor Arvidsson. On top of that, there was only one that would be considered “staged,” and that was the Perry vs. Farabee fight. Stecher fought Couturier after the latter hit Stuart Skinner and Nurse fought McCarron the shift after he hit Vasilily Podkolzin late.

These aren’t the fights of the old days, but rather are in direct relation to what’s happening on the ice.

2. Early reports out of Columbus are that “a few” players are “under the weather,” according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline, leaving them as game-time decisions. It sounds like we won’t find out more until closer to warm-ups.

3. Elvis Merzlikins will get the start for the Blue Jackets tonight. He’s played two games this year, losing both, while posting a 3.65 goals against average and a .854 save percentage. It will mark his first game in 14 days, having last played on October 15th. He’s made three starts against the Oilers in the past, going 1-2 with a 3.76 GAA and .886 SV%.

4. The Oilers haven’t had much success in Columbus in recent years, losing 4-2, 6-5 and 5-2 in each of their three most recent visits. The last win in Columbus came on October 30th, 2019, when they won 4-1.

5. Columbus has had a surprisingly solid start to the year, setting a franchise record for the most goals through their first seven games of a season, with 27, and while their eighth is tonight, the record stands for this game as well. Their 3.86 goals for per game ranks fifth in the league, and they’re getting it from multiple places, as 12 players have found the back of the net.

6. Whatever illness is running through the Blue Jackets room comes at a bad time, as they are in the midst of a five-game, eight-day stretch that kicked off Saturday night with a 4-3 OT loss to the Nashville Predators. They next host the New York Islanders on Wednesday, the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, before visiting the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

7. Connor McDavid’s quest for 1000 points continues to near, now having played 654 NHL games. He’s scored three goals and 10 points in nine games so far this season, a slow pace to kick off the campaign for him, but he’ll have ample opportunity to build on those tonight. McDavid has scored a point in 12 straight games against Columbus (7-18—25), and has nine goals and 29 points in 16 career games.

When he hits the 1000-point mark, he’ll likely become the fourth-fastest player in NHL history to do so, trailing Mike Bossy (656 games played), Mario Lemieux (513) and Wayne Gretzky (424).

8. Will Zach Hyman finally find the back of the net? He’s now up to 5.25 individual expected goals — the fourth most in the entire NHL — but has yet to score a goal this season. The good news for him is he’s had success against the Blue Jackets in the past, scoring in three of his last four games against them.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.