Winning in the NHL isn’t easy, especially when your two best players are injured, but the Edmonton Oilers need wins if they want home-ice advantage for at least one round.

The Oilers are in third place in the Pacific Division. They are two points back of second-place Los Angeles and seven behind Vegas. Winning the division is highly unlikely, but the Oilers need to win two of their next three games vs. Dallas, Seattle and Calgary to remain within striking distance of the Kings.

It isn’t a simple task, but many teams in the NHL don’t have superstars and they find ways to win. Anaheim (2x), Chicago, Buffalo and Nashville have defeated the Stars this season. The Oilers’ roster, even without Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, is better than those teams.

Dallas is a very deep team, but they are still without their best defenseman, and arguably their best player, Miro Heiskanen. Dallas is 13-4-3 without him. Good teams find ways to win despite key injuries. Edmonton is 1-0 without McDavid and Draisaitl and they played a very strong third period vs. Winnipeg when McDavid didn’t play and Draisaitl didn’t dress, picking up a point in their OT loss. The Oilers need some players to step up and play well. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins led them v. Seattle. They need someone to do the same tonight.

Their defence can play better than it did against the Kraken. They gave up way too much. If that happens again tonight, they will likely lose as Dallas has much more firepower than Seattle.

Maybe Stuart Skinner has to steal them a game like he did in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final last year. The Oilers were outshot 34-10, but Skinner stood on his head and sent them to the Stanley Cup Final. Skinner was outstanding that game, and the entire series, so he could step up again.

If the Oilers don’t want to start the playoffs on the road, they need to win two of three games this week and remain close to LA when their superstars return.

— Here’s a quick look round-by-round of the past few playoffs to see how road teams fared.

2024:
Round one: One of eight road teams won their series.
Round two: One of four road teams (EDM) won a series.
Round three: One of two road teams (EDM) won a series.
Round four: No wins.

2023:
Round one: Two of eight road teams won their series.
Round two: One of four road teams won a series.
Round three: One of two road teams won a series.
Round four: No wins.

2022:
Round one: Two of eight road teams won their series.
Round two: Three of four road teams (EDM was one) won a series.
Round three: One of two road teams won a series.
Round four: No wins.

Six road teams won a series in 2022, four won in 2023 and three won last season, with the Oilers winning two of those. Edmonton has been quite good on the road, but historically it is more difficult to win a series when you are the road team. The last team to win the Stanley Cup Final when starting on the road was St. Louis in 2019.

— Dallas is tied with Winnipeg for the best P% in the NHL over the past two months playing .750% hockey. They are 15-4-3 and have outscored opponents 84-60. They are 8-2-2 in the last month, also 750%, so they’ve been very consistent over the past 60 days.

— They have five players averaging more than 1.00 points/game over the past two months. Roope Hintz has 29 points in 20 games, while Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson, and Matt Duchene have 24 points in 22 games and Thomas Harley has 22 points in 22 games. They’ve also averaged at least 1.00 points/game the past month (12 games).

— Mikko Rantanen had two points in his first game with Dallas (against Edmonton), but he only has three points in his last seven games. He is still trying to find his way, similar to how things went in Carolina. He has 11 points in 21 games between Carolina and Dallas. He hasn’t been the same player since leaving Colorado, and Dallas is hopeful he will find his stride before the playoffs.

— Troy Stecher will play tonight. Ty Emberson will sit out a fourth straight game, but look for him to play this week. We could also see John Klingberg get a game, as he has been cleared to play. Those three will battle for the 3RD spot, and who plays in game one of the playoffs will depend as much on the matchup as anything.

Emberson has been used more on the PK, but Stecher has been better at moving and transporting the puck. Klingberg started okay in his first few games, but once the adrenaline wore off, his game dipped. He might never be able to skate as well as he did before, or he might just need another good off-season of training. Maybe this time off helped him, but today, he’d likely be third among these three for playing time. That could change if Klingberg finds his stride, but if he doesn’t show his speed down the stretch it will be difficult for him to get in the lineup.

The Oilers will ice the same lineup that defeated Seattle. The Skinner-Janmark-Brown line was the Oilers’ best line. They created many chances and outscored Seattle 1-0. They could have had more if Janmark could have buried his chances. The Henrique line struggled, and that is why Kapanen has replaced Perry. Knoblauch wants more speed on that line.

Dallas’ top three lines present a problem for every team, especially tonight for the short-staffed Oilers. It will be interesting to see if there are any matchups Knoblauch leans towards. He admitted the goal is still to win, but his approach to how they play is different without McDavid and Draisaitl in the lineup. The Oilers will need to be much better defensively tonight than they were against Seattle. If the Oilers win it will likely be a low-scoring game.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers are well rested and play a strong game, but they lose 3-2 in OT.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Hintz scores. He loves playing Edmonton.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Janmark scores his first goal in two months (19 games).