The defending Western Conference winners will host the Carolina Hurricanes this evening at Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta. The Canes are coming off a 4-3 defeat in St. Louis on Saturday. They have faired better for Carolina on Friday night, defeating the Penguins 4-1. A difficult test on the road against a talented Oilers team, the Canes will have their hands full defensively.
The first of two games in Alberta, the Canes will head to Calgary on Thursday to face the surprisingly fast start for the Flames. The Canes will not return home until Halloween to face the Boston Bruins for another difficult test.
After such a strong season for the Oilers, this season has started very slowly. At the bottom of the Pacific Division with 4 points, just ahead of the San Jose Sharks, the Oilers seem to be in a hangover from the Stanley Cup Finals defeat to the Florida Panthers. The first three games of the season were losses by a combined 15-3 score. They were able to take the next two games but returned to the loss column against the Dallas Stars on Saturday by a score of 4-1.
If it has not been apparent from the scores, defense and goaltending has been a big issue. Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have essentially split the time in net with both players each having one victory. Pickard has a 3.28 GAA which is the best of the bunch. Defense has not been stellar in front of the goalies either but the crease has been a concern for years in Edmonton.
Highly-paid defender, Darnell Nurse has started the season a minus -2 with just 2 assists. In addition to poor defensive play, the offensive side has left much to be desired. Mattias Ekholm leads the blue line in points with 3, but Brett Kulak has had the most impact with 1 goal and 2 assists. Evan Bouchard has been quiet thus far with just 1 assist.
The high-powered Edmonton offense has not quite hit its stride either with super-start Connor McDavid only registering 1 goal in 6 games. Still, that leads the team in points with Leon Draisaitl leading the way with 3 goals. Former Cane, Jeff Skinner, joined Edmonton this year after being bought out by the Buffalo Sabres and he has 2 goals and 2 assists.
It will likely be Frederik Andersen in the crease for the Canes as he looks to stay hot after the victory in Pittsburgh on Friday night. Also, Andrei Svechnikov will look to get on a run after scoring in St. Louis.