Panthers at Oilers
Edmonton Oilers management has preached patience with this year's roster - and over the past two games, fans have been rewarded with an offensive explosion. The Oilers will look to build on consecutive impressive victories Thursday night as they entertain the road-weary Florida Panthers. Edmonton followed a 4-2 victory over the provincial-rival Calgary Flames on Saturday with what was easily its best effort of the season - a 7-0 whitewash of the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.
When coach Peter Horachek pointed out during Tuesday's practice in Vancouver that Florida had never won a game at Rogers Arena, goalie Tim Thomas said, "I have." Then, the man who led the Boston Bruins to a Game 7 Stanley Cup victory over the host Canucks made sure all his teammates shared the experience with 30 saves in the Panthers' 3-2 shootout win. The victory improved Florida to 2-1-0 on its grueling five-game Western Conference jaunt.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, FSFL (Florida), RSNE (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (6-12-4): Goal-scoring continues to be a major concern for Florida this season, as its crop of talented young forwards struggles to keep up with the rest of the league. Brad Boyes leads the club with eight goals, while no other player has more than five. Second-year forward Jonathan Huberdeau is scuffling with just 11 points in 22 games, while teenager Aleksander Barkov - taken second overall in the June draft - has four goals and five assists in 22 games, but has been held to just two points in his previous 12 outings.
ABOUT THE OILERS (6-15-2): The Oilers aren't silencing their many critics quite yet, but the team has looked a lot more like the one coach Dallas Eakins thought he was inheriting when he was hired over the summer. Six different players had goals in the Columbus rout, led by David Perron with two goals and two assists. "I think we took some confidence and some momentum from the Calgary game, which we really needed to do, and we built off it," center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins told the Edmonton Sun. "It was a really big game for us."
OVERTIME
1. Edmonton has won eight of the last nine meetings, with four of those games decided in overtime or a shootout.
2. Perron is scoreless with a minus-3 rating in four career games against the Panthers.
3. Panthers D Eric Gudbranson has zero points and a minus-11 rating in 12 road games.