After more than their fair share of home cooking through the month of December, the Edmonton Oilers are hitting the road.
They played eight of 11 games in December on home ice with only two away games being “one-offs” before they were able to return home. While the Oilers will see a homestand at the end of the month, the first half won’t be so.
1. How does the next week shake out? They visit Seattle tonight, the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and the Chicago Blackhawks next Saturday night. The Oilers will get one game at home against the L.A. Kings on Monday the 13th, before three more on the road visiting Minnesota, Colorado and Vancouver.
2. The rest of the month will close out with five games in nine nights at home, as Washington, Vancouver, Buffalo, Seattle and Detroit.
3. Seattle comes into tonight’s game 17-19-3, sitting sixth place in the Pacific Division, and last played Thursday, falling 4-3 to the Vancouver Canucks in a shootout, but have struggled as of late. They’re 3-5-2 in their last 10, with a .400 points percentage which is the fourth-worst mark over that stretch. The Kraken have struggled to score as of late with just 2.45 goals per hour in their last 10, while giving up 3.23 per hour.
4. Early in the Kraken’s tenure in the NHL they made a name for themselves as a strong defensive team, who can grind out opposing teams in lower-scoring games. That hasn’t been the case this year under Dan Bylsma, however. Defensively at five-on-five per hour, they’ve given up the third most shot attempts against, the eighth-most scoring chances against, the ninth-most expected goals against and the seventh-most goals against.
5. Meanwhile, they rank near the bottom of the league offensively in similar categories at five-on-five per hour ranking 18th in shot attempts, 29th in scoring chances, 29th in expected goals and 22nd in goals.
6. Despite being shutout five times this season, the second most in the league — just ahead of Edmonton’s four — they’ve also scored five or more goals in a game 10 times, tied for the fourth most in the league. Talk about a feast or famine team.
7. A few familiar faces are out of the Kraken lineup. Jordan Eberle is on the shelf recovering from pelvic surgery, while goaltender Joey Daccord, dealing with a lingering bruise, and forward Brandon Tanev are considered day-to-day. Philipp Grubauer could get the start for Seattle, and he’s struggled against the Oilers in his career, going 3-4 in eight games, posting a .834 save percentage and 4.43 goals against average. If Daccord is able to go, he hasn’t fared much better against the Oilers, going 0-4 in six games, posting a .873 save percentage and a 3.89 goals against average.
8. The Oilers have handled the Kraken well in recent years, going 8-2 in their last 10 games, outscoring them 42-27, including six straight and five straight when visiting Climate Pledge Arena. Leon Draisaitl has led the way offensivley against them, scoring five goals and 23 points in 10 gmaes, while Connor McDavid has put up seven goals and 18 points in 11 games.
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.
