Oilers-Lightning, Avalanche-Stars highlight weekend schedule

Each Friday, NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will provide readers with three games he is looking forward to that weekend:

Edmonton Oilers at Tampa Bay Lightning (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET; BSSUN, SN)

The Oilers (5-9-1) have won two straight since firing coach Jay Woodcroft on Sunday and replacing him with Kris Knoblauch. First, I will say I think someone is going to get a good coach in Woodcroft and we haven't heard the last of him. Evander Kane has been going for the Oilers; he had a natural hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday and has seven goals in his past 10 games. The goaltending and defense has gotten better, allowing five goals in the past three games after allowing 18 in the previous four.

The Lightning (7-6-4) had been shut out in two straight games prior to a 4-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. Something coach Jon Cooper told me at the start of the season was that they needed to focus on their defense, especially with goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy out to start the season, although he is practicing again and could return in a few weeks. We know they have depth up front with forwards Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos  and Brandon Hagel, but how about defenseman Victor Hedman, who has 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in 17 games after he had 49 points (nine goals, 40 assists) in 79 games last season? It's nice to see him back on track.

Colorado Avalanche at Dallas Stars (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET; BSSWX, ALT)

The Avalanche (10-5-0) dominated the Anaheim Ducks in an 8-2 win Wednesday following a 5-1 win against the Seattle Kraken on Monday. The Ducks are much improved this season and the Kraken knocked the Avalanche out of the playoffs last season so you can be sure that was on their mind. For me, they are one of the deepest teams in the NHL; they also have three players (Mikko Rantanen, 21; Cale Makar, 21; Nathan MacKinnon, 20) with at least 20 points. Only the Canucks, with four (J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser) have more. And goalie Alexandar Georgiev, who tied for the League lead with 40 wins last season, entered play Friday with an NHL-best nine wins this season.

The Stars (11-3-1) quietly are having a great start to the season, but they'll be tested in this game between the top two teams in the Central Division the past two seasons. Dallas lost three of four to Colorado last season (1-2-1). Joe Pavelski, at age 39, is tied with Jason Robertson, 24, for the Stars lead in points (14). Matt Duchene, who signed a one-year, $3 million contract July 1, has goals in four straight. The third line of Mason Marchment, Sam Steel and Tyler Seguin, and the goalie tandem of Jake Oettinger and Scott Wedgewood, also have been keys for me so far.

Vegas Golden Knights at Pittsburgh Penguins (Sunday, 6 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN, TVAS)

I know the Golden Knights (13-3-1) lost three of four (0-3-1) prior to a 6-5 win at the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, but they still are the most balanced team in the NHL. The goaltending is great, as it was last season. The offense is well balanced with 20 of their 23 skaters who have played a game this season scoring a goal. They've allowed the third-fewest goals per game in the NHL (2.35), and rank in the top 10 in power-play percentage (24.1 percent, tied for ninth) and penalty-killing percentage (86.8 percent, tied for fifth). All in all, they've shown no signs of a Stanley Cup hangover.

Erik Karlsson has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during a seven-game point streak for the Penguins (8-7-0), who had won five straight following a 3-6-0 start to the season, before a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Sidney Crosby also is on a tear with points in 14 of 15 games this season, including a current 10-game point streak (seven goals, eight assists). Pittsburgh is in a tough stretch as they play the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, the Golden Knights on Sunday and then the New York Rangers on Wednesday, so I'm interested to see how they fare here.