Senators at Oilers
The Ottawa Senators attempt to halt a season-high three-game winless drought when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday in the second stop of their three-game trek through Western Canada. The Senators erased three one-goal deficits before falling to Vancouver 4-3 in overtime Tuesday to fall to 0-1-2 over their past three games. "There are positives to take out of this moving forward, but it's a lot nicer playing with the lead than chasing it," Ottawa center Kyle Turris said. "We have to work on that."
Edmonton has yet to win in eight games against Western Conference teams (0-7-1), but it opens a five-game homestand hoping to build on its 6-2-0 record against Eastern Conference opposition. The Oilers fell into an early three-game hole in a 3-2 loss at Nashville on Tuesday in the finale of a five-game road trip. "It was a tough 20 for us," Oilers coach Dallas Eakins said of the first period versus the Predators. "Our next step is finding a way to play 60 minutes every night. That's how the playoff teams play."
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, TSN5, RDS2 (Ottawa), SNOL (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE SENATORS (7-4-4): Thursday's game marks a homecoming of sorts for Ottawa rookie Curtis Lazar, who played three seasons with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League, leading the club to the Memorial Cup championship last spring. Lazar, who has four points in his last seven games, has yet to score his first NHL goal but is hoping some familiar surroundings will change that. “I’ve got an opportunity to get my first goal in a rink where I have scored quite few goals before," Lazar said. "I’m very comfortable in the building. I love the ice, I love the atmosphere at Rexall, I’m just going to go out there and play.”
ABOUT THE OILERS (6-9-1): Nail Yakupov has had a pair of six-game goalless droughts this season, ending the latter with his third tally in the loss at Nashville. The top overall pick in the 2012 draft got off to a slow start this campaign, registering a minus-6 and a combined nine shots through the first eight contests, but he raised his game dramatically over the past eight outings by notching a plus-4 and 31 shots. “His effort level is incredible right now,” Eakins said. “If it just happened for you, he’d have a lot of goals right now. He’s doing everything, (but) what Nail likes to do is score goals.”
OVERTIME
1. The Oilers have won three straight in the series but Ottawa is 5-1-0 in its last six visits to Edmonton.
2. Senators G Craig Anderson is 7-4-1 with four shutouts in 13 starts versus the Oilers.
3. Edmonton's power play is in a 1-for-27 rut while Ottawa has killed off 20-of-21 penalties.