Oilers at Predators
The Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators cruised into the All-Star break before stumbling out of the blocks in their first trip to the ice. The Western Conference upstarts look to regain their footing at the other's expense on Thursday as captain Connor McDavid and the Oilers open a three-game road trip against the Predators.
Leon Draisaitl scored to reach the 20-goal plateau for the first time in Tuesday's 5-2 setback to Minnesota, dropping Edmonton to 7-1-1 in its last nine games. The 21-year-old German has scored four goals and set up five others during his seven-game point streak, including an assist in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Predators on Jan. 20. That victory was part of a 7-1-1 stretch for Nashville, which returned from the break with a thud in a 4-2 setback to Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Pekka Rinne yielded all four goals to the high-octane Penguins, but looks to rebound versus a team against which he improved to 16-6-1 after making 30 saves in the meeting nearly two weeks ago.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet West (Edmonton), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE OILERS (28-16-8): McDavid stumbled out of the blocks after the All-Star break, posting a minus-2 rating while being held off the scoresheet on the heels of collecting 16 (three goals, 13 assists) of his NHL-leading 59 points in his previous 14 games. The 20-year-old set up Milan Lucic's power-play goal against Nashville, highlighting the Oilers' stretch of five tallies with the man advantage in the last six games. Workhorse goaltender Cam Talbot, who earned an early exit after yielding four goals on Tuesday, fell to 2-3-1 in his career against Nashville despite turning aside 42 shots in the first encounter.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (24-18-8): Defenseman Roman Josi participated in practice on Wednesday as he attempts to work his way back from an upper-body injury. "I'm feeling better, getting better and better each day, so I feel like the progression is going the right way," Josi said. "I can't tell for sure when I'm going to play again, but like I said, it's been good. I feel a lot better and been trying to progress each day, so we'll see, hopefully be back (in the lineup) soon." Nashville's power play has been progressing as well with at least one goal in each of the last three games on the heels of a woeful 1-for-27 stretch in the previous nine.
OVERTIME
1. Edmonton owns an 8-2-3 record against Central Division representatives.
2. Nashville C Calle Jarnkrok has two goals and three assists on his season-high three-game point streak.
3. The Oilers acquired 2012 first-round selection Henrik Samuelsson from Arizona for fellow F Mitchell Moroz on Wednesday.