Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

I liked that Battle of Alberta better than the first one.

Leon Draisaitl has had two consecutive 3 point games. For all the talk from outside the Oilers fanbase that he can only get points on the powerplay or his stardom is only a product of Connor McDavid, he has historically performed well in the captain’s absence. He now has 59 points in 56 career games when McDavid is not in the lineup.

Stuart Skinner had a nice bounce-back game after the stinker against Columbus. You can’t fault him for the goals he allowed, as one was tipped, and he was screened for the other one. Zach Hyman scored his second breakaway goal in as many games, he seems to finally be catching some breaks. Despite Hyman’s goal being a powerplay and game-winning goal, I still felt sour about Edmonton’s special teams. They did allow a PP goal, and when they had a PP late in the third period, the Flames took over most of the play and could’ve tied the game with their goalie pulled. They weathered that storm and managed to seal it with an empty netter.

Edmonton has a consistent “Win One, Lose One” streak going on right now. This is the best that any team can do until their best player is eventually playing again. With 4 of their next 5 games, including tonight, at home, let’s see them keep it up. The keys to the game are…

Captain Pickard: Calvin Pickard has been the better of the two Oilers goalies so far this season. He’s the obvious starter, with tonight being a back-to-back.

Marky Mark: In Jacob Markstrom’s first season in New Jersey, he so far has a respectable .907 SV% and 2.62 GAA. After two rough games against Detroit and Washington, he’s only allowed 4 goals in his last 3 games.

Nico Depot: Devils forward Nico Hischier, within the last 3 seasons, has added his name to the list of new star two-way centermen in the NHL after being a first-overall pick in the 2017 Draft. Putting up 80 points 2 seasons ago, he has 14 points in 15 games to start 2024/2025.