For the second time in a week, the Edmonton Oilers will square off with the Anaheim Ducks.
While Sunday night’s affair saw the Oilers blow 2-1 and 3-1 leads in a 5-3 loss, they’ll look to change the tune tonight.
1. In the three years prior to this, the Oilers have hosted the Ducks six times, winning five of them. Their lone loss saw them fall 4-3, but in Edmonton’s wins, they’ve molly whopped Anaheim, outscoring them 36-15 with 6-1, 8-2, 6-0, 7-3 and 6-5 wins.
2. Those you would expect to have done the most damage for the Oilers did, with Connor McDavid scoring six goals and 17 points, Leon Draisaitl eight goals and 15 points, Zach Hyman with five goals and 10 points, Evan Bouchard with a goal and eight points, both Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse with two goals and six points, and in just three games, Mattias Ekholm with two goals and six points.
3. Edmonton’s defence has been a strong driver of offence this season, with the group accounting for 24 of the Oilers’ 121 goals scored so far this season — the third most in the league. Evan Bouchard’s seven goals lead the way, while Mattias Ekholm (six), Brett Kulak (five), Darnell Nurse and Troy Stecher (three) are all contributing. The Oilers’ blue line accounting for 19.8 percent of the team’s total goals is bested by one team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have 26 goals (20.2 percent) from defencemen.
4. The Anaheim Ducks are red hot right now, riding a three-game streak into tonight’s game. It kicked off last Sunday with their 5-3 win over Edmonton, before beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 at home on New Year’s Eve. Last night, they rolled into Winnipeg and beat the Connor Hellebuyck-led Jets 4-3 in overtime.
5. They’ve mounted comebacks in all three games, facing a 3-1 deficit against the Oilers, a 2-2 tie against the Devils, and 3-2 deficit against the Jets. Anaheim’s now had seven third-period comeback wins this season, tied for most in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers.
6. Troy Terry has led the way in those games, scoring three goals and five points, while Ryan Strome has added a pair of goals and assists. But they’ve had some depth pieces chipping in, too. Their third line of Cutter Gauthier (one goal, three points), Robby Fabbri (two goals, three points) and Mason McTavish (one goal, two points) have begun to find their game, too.
7. Speaking of goals from the blue line, the Ducks are getting some, too, with 17 of their 93 goals (17.2 percent) coming from defencemen. 15 of those are from defencemen 23 years old or younger, too, as Jackson LaCombe (six goals), Olen Zellweger (four), Pavel Mintyukov (four) and Drew Helleson (two) are chipping in.
8. Stuart Skinner is the confirmed starter for the Edmonton Oilers tonight, while Lukas Dostal is slated to start — yet unconfirmed — with John Gibson getting the start last night against Winnipeg.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, and senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
