The Edmonton Oilers continue their road trip in California with a Friday night contest against the San Jose Sharks.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet West or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin at 8:00pm MT, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game at SJS
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Evan Bouchard
PRE-GAME RAW | Philip Broberg
RECENT VIDEOS
PRACTICE | Dylan Holloway
PRACTICE | Ryan McLeod
PRACTICE | Kailer Yamamoto
PRACTICE | Zach Hyman
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Sharks Statistics
Stats Comparison
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
BLOG: Holloway hopeful to play with McDavid
RECAP: Oilers 6, Ducks 2
FEATURE: Vinny on the verge
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Friday's game on Sportsnet West at 8:30 p.m. MT.

INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from Thursday's Oilers practice at SAP Center in San Jose including Dylan Holloway determined to stick on Connor McDavid's wing.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG

PRE-GAME REPORT

SAN JOSE, CA - The Oilers whipped up a recipe for success Wednesday in Anaheim that they'll look to replicate tonight when they step into the San Jose Sharks kitchen at SAP Center.
Two goals in the opening five minutes against the Ducks laid the foundation for a complete performance by the visitors that ultimately resulted in a 6-2 victory over the last place team in the Pacific Division.
Tonight they'll face another rebuilding squad in the Sharks that is just ahead of Anaheim in the standings, and they'll aim to take the fish out of the game early just as they did to their fowl foes from the south.
"It's an important to have a good start every night, as we've learned, especially against a young group," Friday's birthday boy Connor McDavid said. "To get on top of them early is important to make sure they know it's going to be a hard night."
"It's huge," defenceman Evan Bouchard added. "The better starts we get off to, it helps our team. It showed in that game in Anaheim with the start, and once we get off to that start, then it's hard to stop us."

SECOND HALF URGENCY
The second half of the regular season has arrived and the Oilers find themselves in the Western Conference's final playoff spot, two points behind the Calgary Flames for the top wildcard position and two, three and four points ahead of the St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche, respectively, nipping at their heels.
A win tonight against an opponent lower than them in the standings will be paramount, particularly when they have the division-leading Vegas Golden Knights on the docket tomorrow in the second half of their back-to-back to finish the road trip.
"You look at where we're at in our schedule, every point is precious," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "The way we're operating is making sure that every possession counts. We're looking for a certain level of sacrifice in order to find points or find wins. We're looking for that consistency night in, night out. We're looking for us to take a step forward here, specifically this evening, specifically in this stretch before the all-star break."
PRAISE FOR THE PAIRING
Consistency on the back end in particular has been a challenge for the Oilers this season, but one defensive duo doing drawing praise recently has been Bouchard and Philip Broberg.

"We're starting to see some five-on-five offence get produced from that pair," Woodcroft said. "It was (Broberg's) 40th NHL game the other day and he appears to me to be getting better or growing before our eyes. He's someone who moves pucks well. He separates from opponents when he has a step, and he's playing a subtle but effective game. I think he's helped Evan Bouchard at five-on-five, and they should feel good about the game they laid down the other day in Anaheim."
Bouchard is also a big fan of his partner's skating ability.
"He's a great defenceman, great skater, can skate his way out of problems and moves the puck well as well," he said. "He makes things easy for me, talks well. I think now we're meshing well together."

Tonight will be the young Swede's seventh consecutive game as he continues to build confidence after starting his season in AHL Bakersfield and going in and out of the Oilers lineup upon his recall in late November.
"I think we've found some chemistry on the back end," Broberg said of his pairing with Bouchard. "Both of us can break the puck out well and skate well and be an offensive threat. It's been going really good so far, and we've just got to keep it going."
-- Ryan Frankson, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. SHARKS
STREAM: 8:30 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet West
Oilers Team Scope
The Oilers will wrap up the California part of their four-game road trip with a stop at the SAP Center to take on the 13-22-8 San Jose Sharks.
Edmonton is coming off a dominating performance down the road in Anaheim, where they put up a season high 53 shots on the Ducks in a 6-2 victory. The Oilers opened the scoring early courtesy of a snipe by Dylan Holloway, who was elevated to the Oilers top line with Kailer Yamamoto and Connor McDavid.
"Tyson (Barrie) made a really good pinch down, rimmed it below the net, and then I was just alone in front and McDavid made an incredible backhand pass to me," Holloway said about the goals. "I was able to tap it in and it was awesome that it was able to go in."
McDavid would also find the back of the Ducks net himself, with a sublime turn off the half wall before roofing the backhand shot on Ducks starter John Gibson for his 35th of the season. Klim Kostin scored twice, including an excellent solo effort on a Ducks turnover that he whipped five hole on Gibson, and narrowly missed the hat trick in the third period with a slapshot in the slot off the iron.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his 20th of the season, to join McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman as the fourth Oiler to reach that milestone this season.
Jack Campbell picked up his 10th win of the season while filling in for Stuart Skinner, who is back home awaiting the birth of his first child. Campbell turned aside 21 of 23 Anaheim shots on the evening as he has slowly rounded into form as of late for the Oilers.
Friday night's contest will be the first of three games against the second-worst team in the Pacific Division, with San Jose sitting only six-points ahead of the last place Ducks.

Sharks Team Scope
The Sharks have been struggling to say the least this season, with just 13 wins in their first 43 games of the season. The California club is coming off a 4-3 defeat to the State rival Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.
San Jose's top forward in Timo Meier, who has 43 points (24G, 19A) in 43 games, scored just over midway through the third period to deadlock the score at 2-2 -- however, the Kings rallied back with back-to-back goals by Gabriel Vilardi and Drew Doughty to put the game out of reach.
"This is not easy, the season we've gone through," San Jose Head Coach David Quinn said after the loss. "There's a lot of frustration because we feel like we've played better, but our record is what it is. I'm just proud of the way we competed and didn't give up. Even at 4-2, we kept playing and had chances to tie."
Although the season hasn't gone well for the Sharks thus far, it has gone well for former Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. The defenceman has re-emmerged as one of the best offensive defenders in the NHL with 56 points (13G, 43A) in 43 games, leading all NHL blueliners. The 32-year-old currently sits seventh in league scoring and is on pace for 107 points this season. If Karlsson were to reach that total, it would be the most by a defenceman since Paul Coffey recorded 113 points for the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 1988-89.

By The Numbers
The Oilers come into Friday's contest having won four-straight meetings against the San Jose Sharks... Edmonton has outscored the Californian team by a 15-7 margin over that timeframe... Connor McDavid has recorded at least a point against the Sharks in 14 consecutive games with eight goals and 13 assists in that stretch... The Oilers captain is also in the midst of an 11-game road point streak... Leon Draisaitl passed Jari Kurri for fourth all-time among Oilers players in power-play goals with his between-the-legs redirection against the Ducks on Wednesday... The German now has 108 career PPGs with the Oilers to Kurri's 107 in the Blue & Orange....
Edmonton recorded four goals in the first period against the Ducks on Wednesday, the NHL leading sixth time they have scored at least four in a frame... Timo Meier has been dangerous for the Sharks all season, leading the NHL in scoring chances with 223... San Jose has the league's worst winning percentage in one-goal games this season with a 5-6-8 record (.263 per cent)... The Sharks also have the third worst winning percentage inside their own division with a 2-7-6 record (.333 per cent)... One area the Sharks do excel at is responding to goals, with eight tallies scored within a minute of their opponent scoring...

Injury Report
OILERS - Oscar Klefbom (shoulder) is on IR; Mike Smith (undisclosed) is on IR; Evander Kane (wrist) is on IR;
Ryan Murray
(undisclosed) is on IR.
SHARKS - Luke Kunin (ACL) is on IR; Markus Nutivaara (undisclosed) is on IR; Nikolai Knyzhov (Achillies) is on IR; Radim Simek (upper body) is on IR; Scott Harrington (upper body) is day-to-day.
-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com