PREVIEW: Oilers at Flames

The Edmonton Oilers conclude their back-to-back by hitting the road for the final Battle of Alberta of the season on Saturday night against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome.

You can watch the game on Hockey Night in Canada at 8:00 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Flames

CALGARY, AB – Less than 24 hours after securing their spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Oilers are back in action against the provincial rival Calgary Flames.

Edmonton was all over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday to the tune of a 6-2 victory that officially clinched their position as one of the Western Conference's eight post-season contenders.

Connor McDavid and Evander Kane each scored twice, Leon Draisaitl had two assists to surpass 100 points on the season and hit 500 helpers in his career, and Stuart Skinner stopped 21 of 23 Avalanche shots for the win between the pipes.

The impressive performance against the 102-point Avalanche came two nights after the Oilers were blanked 5-0 on the road by the Dallas Stars, so the bounce-back effort was appreciated.

"You're going to have a couple of those a year, the most important thing is how you respond," Draisaitl said. "And I think that's something over the last couple years, including the playoffs, that this team does really well is respond to poor efforts or bad games. I thought throughout the entire lineup it was just a really good game."

The Oilers and Flames will conclude their four-game season series on Saturday, with Edmonton earning two of the three victories thus far. The Blue & Orange emerged with a 5-2 decision on Oct. 29 in the Heritage Classic outdoor game at Commonwealth Stadium and followed that up with a 3-1 win in Calgary on Jan. 20.

The most recent Battle of Alberta encounter was not so kind to the Oilers, though, as the Flames silenced a raucous Saturday night crowd at Rogers Place with a 6-3 result on Feb. 24.

However, the Oilers have gone 13-4-3 since that disappointing showing while the Flames have diverted in the opposite direction, with just six wins in 17 games and seven losses in their last eight.

The Oilers found themselves in a similar funk to start the season, with a dismal 2-9-1 record through their opening 12 games, making Friday night's playoff clinch that much sweeter.

"We really buckled down after a really poor start," Draisaitl said. "There's a lot of resiliency and character in this group. It's only one step, of course, we know that, but it's a step that you need to do to give yourself a chance."

"Things weren't looking great, but I think as a group we had the belief that we knew we could turn it around and get on a roll," Kane added. "We did that and clinched a playoff spot, so that's a nice feeling. And now we've got to try to win some more games to solidify home ice and, who knows, maybe climb the standings."

Kirs Knoblauch took over as bench boss on Nov. 12 with the team at 3-9-1. The Oilers won their first two games under his guidance before dropping three in a row.

Their 5-0 win on the road over the Washington Capitals on Nov. 24 catapulted them into an eight-game winning streak and a 41-12-4 stretch that has made them the NHL's top team since that day, clinching their post-season berth with seven games to go.

"We were talking about this after the game tonight, about clinching, and we talked about the playoffs," Knoblauch said. "We were in Washington and we talked about what we needed to get there. We ultimately said if we go 5-3 in eight-game segments we're going to be in a pretty good position to get into the playoffs.

"We had a lot of confidence that we should be able to get there. To get there this soon, I think that may be a little surprising. But when you're pulling off 16-game winning streaks, another eight-game winning streak, they made up a lot of ground in a short period of time. They worked for it. It wasn't easy and they should be very proud of what they accomplished."