BLOG: Oilers to face Blackhawks in best-of-five Qualifying Round

EDMONTON, AB - Bring on the Chicago Blackhawks.

On Tuesday, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the League's Return To Play Plan, declaring a new modified competitive format which will see 24 teams back in action to compete for the Stanley Cup at two "hub" cities beginning later this summer.

The Commissioner confirmed that when hockey does return, the fifth-seeded Oilers and 12th-seeded Chicago Blackhawks (based on Western Conference points percentage) will engage in a best-of-five Qualifying Round series, with the winner moving on to the First Round of the new competitive format.

"On the hockey side, the return-to-play format reflects the League's extraordinary competitive balance while honoring the tradition and integrity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs," Bettman said.

The NHL is maintaining a tentative timeline for when the Qualifying Round and Playoffs will be played. The League outlined a four-phase strategy where hockey will return in Phase 4, with the timing of that phase still to be determined.

The NHL is still in Phase 1 of their Plan, with Phase 2 - when teams will be permitted to return to home facilities for small group, voluntary, and on- and off-ice training - launching in early June.

Once Phase 4 begins, the 24 teams in the two "hub" cities will compete in Seeding Round Robins, a Qualifying Round and Conference-based Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Edmonton and Chicago played each other three times during the regular season, which was declared concluded on Tuesday.

In their first meeting on Oct. 14, Chicago handed Edmonton a 3-1 loss at United Center. The Oilers returned the favour with a 5-3 win at Rogers Place on February 11, thanks to a four-point effort from Leon Draisaitl, who is the 2019-20 regular season Art Ross Trophy winner by finishing with 43 goals and 110 points.

In their third and final meeting of the season, Chicago edged Edmonton 4-3. Over the three-game season series, the Blackhawks out-shot the Oilers 107-83, outscored them 10-9 and had the upper hand in the faceoff dot at 84-80.

The Oilers won the special teams department handily, going 3-for-7 on the man advantage and a perfect 8-for-8 on the penalty kill.

Individually, Draisaitl led all skaters from both teams in points during the regular-season series, notching one goal and six assists in the three contests. Behind him was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who tallied two goals and two assists. Oilers Captain Connor McDavid was held off the scoresheet in the two outings he appeared in.

In the blue paint, Mike Smith started every game against Chicago, going 1-2 with a .906 save percentage and 3.56 goals-against average.

Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane topped all his teammates by collecting a pair of goals and assists over the three meetings. Captain Jonathan Toews, Brandon Saad and Adam Boqvist all had three points against Edmonton.

Netminder Corey Crawford pulled out the two victories for Chicago, while Robin Lehner - before his trade to the Vegas Golden Knights - suffered the lone loss. Crawford owned a 2.01 GAA and .923 S% versus the Oilers.