Maple Leafs at Oilers
Taken at their word, Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid aren't heaping adding significance on Thursday's game pitting the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs against the Edmonton Oilers. "It's just another game," said Matthews, the reigning Calder Memorial Trophy recipient, of facing off against the current Hart Trophy winner in McDavid.
"You don't really get too worked up about the whole matchup, individual matchups, that the media likes to make out," Matthews said before reiterating that "it's just another hockey game." Matthews leads Toronto in both goals (12) and points (24) and extended his assist streak to three contests in Tuesday's 4-1 triumph over Calgary in the opener of a three-game trek through Western Canada. Fellow 20-year-old McDavid leads Edmonton in goals (10), assists (20) and points (30), but the Oilers have endured somewhat of a dry spell with the NHL's 26th-ranked offense (2.7 goals per game) - prompting coach Todd McLellan to alter lines on a semi-regular basis. "Obviously you’d like to stick with a line for games in a row, but it hasn’t worked out that way," said McDavid, who could see Jesse Puljujarvi ascend to his top line along with Milan Lucic.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, TSN4 (Toronto), TVAS, Sportsnet West (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (16-9-1): Nazem Kadri got right back on the horse after seeing his career-best nine-game point streak come to halt, as the 27-year-old scored in the third period on Tuesday to give him 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his last 11 contests. Kadri drilled the Oilers with three goals in two encounters last season to increase his point total to 10 (six goals, four assists) in nine career meetings. Fellow forwards William Nylander (three assists) and Zach Hyman (one goal, two assists) are riding three-game point streaks while Nikita Zaitsev has scored in back-to-back contests.
ABOUT THE OILERS (10-13-2): Cam Talbot's availability is in question as the 30-year-old workhorse is nursing an upper-body injury, prompting Edmonton to bring in a University of Alberta goaltender for Wednesday's practice. Coach Todd McLellan said that Talbot "tweaked something in his upper body" while making 29 saves in a 4-3 overtime win against Arizona on Tuesday. Should Talbot need a breather, backup Laurent Brossoit will vie for his first win of the season as he owns an 0-3-0 mark with a 3.31 goals-against average and .881 save percentage.
OVERTIME
1. Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl is one assist shy of 100 for his career while fellow C Ryan Strome is one goal short of 50.
2. Toronto is 0-for-10 on the power play in its last five games after scoring five times with the man advantage in its previous three.
3. Oilers RW Zack Kassian, who is an Ontario native, has three points (one goal, two assists) in his last four games after mustering just two assists in his previous 21.