Oilers at Predators
Connor McDavid spent the summer hearing many of hockey's best toss verbal bouquets his way. After toggling between the rose and the thorns in the season opener, the top overall pick looks for a better effort on Saturday when the Edmonton Oilers continue their three-game road trip against the Nashville Predators.
"I did some good stuff, did some bad stuff," McDavid said after the Oilers suffered a 3-1 setback to St. Louis on Thursday. "There's obviously some stuff to improve on. We didn't finish the way we wanted to, but for the most part we were right there." McDavid recorded two shots on goal in 18:25 of ice time while losing 10 of 13 faceoff draws for the Oilers, who are looking to right the ship after missing the playoffs for nine straight seasons. Pekka Rinne hasn't done Edmonton any favors, stopping 84 of 87 shots to win all three meetings last season - with a decisive 37-save shutout in the last encounter on Nov. 27. The Vezina Trophy finalist didn't miss a beat after his 41-win performance in 2014-15 by making 25 saves in the Predators' 2-1 victory over Carolina on Thursday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, City (Edmonton), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE OILERS (0-1-0): Coach Todd McLellan wasn't shy about mixing up his lines in Friday's practice, as McDavid was paired with Benoit Pouliot and Lauri Korpikoski on the team's second grouping. McLellan told reporters he thought the offense was "limited" and that he was still trying to find the right combinations. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was credited with scoring Edmonton's lone goal, although the puck actually found its way into the net off a failed clearing attempt from St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (1-0-0): Craig Smith scored in the opener versus the Hurricanes and looks to build off last season's success against Edmonton. The 26-year-old tallied twice in Nashville's 4-1 win over Edmonton on Oct. 29 before adding an assist in a 3-2 triumph versus the Oilers two weeks later. Viktor Arvidsson also scored against Carolina for his first career goal while 20-year-old defenseman Seth Jones recorded a pair of assists to jump out of the blocks after a mediocre sophomore season.
OVERTIME
1. Nashville RW Filip Forsberg scored two-game winning goals versus Edmonton last season.
2. Oilers G Cam Talbot has stopped 62 of 66 shots en route to winning two of three meetings with the Predators.
3. Should he play on Saturday, Rinne will tie Tomas Vokoun (1998-2007) with a franchise-record 383 games played.