Oilers at Rangers
The New York Rangers have been almost invincible at home and look to continue their success when they welcome Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. New York is coming off a pair of impressive victories, demolishing Tampa Bay and St. Louis -- two teams that advanced to the conference finals last season.
The Rangers followed up a 6-1 demolition of Tampa Bay by blitzing St. Louis 5-0 as Henrik Lundqvist earned his 60th career shutout. "We're making plays when they're there," New York defenseman Marc Staal said of the recent offensive surge. "It's allowing us to be effective and right now we're scoring on chances which helps, for sure." The surprising Oilers are on top of the Pacific Division despite suffering an overtime loss at Toronto on Tuesday in the opener of a six-game road trip. McDavid, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft, will be facing the Rangers for the first time after sitting out last season's two meetings due to injury.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet 360 (Edmonton), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE OILERS (7-2-1): Edmonton has lost two in a row for the first time with the latest setback overshadowed by the hype of McDavid matched up against this year's No. 1 pick, Auston Matthews, a showdown that had Wayne Gretzy and Bobby Orr in attendance. The Oilers have generated plenty of chances with 83 shots on goal in the past two losses. Ex-Rangers backup netminder Cam Talbot expects New York to come at him, saying: "I've got buddies who are going to want to put some pucks past me."
ABOUT THE RANGERS (7-3): New York forward Jimmy Vesey hasn't drawn the national acclaim of Matthews or Patrik Laine, the No. 2 overall pick of Winnipeg, but he is tied with the aforementioned duo with six goals to lead all NHL rookies. The Hobey Baker Award winner from Harvard, Vesey is on a tear with five goals and eight points in his last six games. "I’m starting to really get confident out there, Vesey said. "Confidence is everything in this game and right now it’s high and I’m riding that.”
OVERTIME
1. Vesey is the first New York rookie with six goals in his first 10 games since Darren Turcotte in 1989-90.
2. Edmonton has converted on only 1 of 19 chances on the power play over the past eight games.
3. New York has 40 goals through 10 contests, its highest total since matching those numbers in 1992-93.