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The Edmonton Oilers host the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Friday night before the holiday break.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin at 6:30 p.m. MT, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

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INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from the Oilers organization, including Jesse Puljujarvi breaking his goal drought in front of his father Jari during the Dad's Trip.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - One more home game before the holidays.
The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks can carry consecutive victories into the holiday break with a victory over their Pacific Division rivals at Rogers Place, where the two sides wrap up their pre-Christmas schedules on Friday night.
The Canucks are completing back-to-back games after an exciting 6-5 shootout win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night, receiving five points and the deciding goal in the shootout from Elias Pettersson in his return to the lineup from a six-game absence due to illness.
Pettersson is one of a handful of potent offensive options possessed by a Canucks team that's looking to generate positive momentum heading into the holiday break with a 5-4-0 record during the month of December.
"They're a team that obviously has some star players that can hurt you if you're not detailed," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "Their schedule is what their schedule is. I think they had two days off before this."
The Canucks won't receive any sympathy from the Oilers on the rigours of the travel schedule, including having to play back-to-back games both home and away. The Oilers have been playing every other day since Nov. 26 with the exception to one weekend that still included a travel day to Minnesota to start the first of a back-to-back of their own during that 15-game stretch.
Each team's respective calendars are what they are, and the Oilers see Friday as an opportunity to attack the Canucks early and continue some of the good work that was done on Wednesday in a 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars.

PRE-RAW | Zach Hyman 12.23.22

"You always complain when you're on the other end of it being on the back-to-back and the team's waiting for you, right?" forward Zach Hyman said. "So I think the rare time when you are the team waiting, you have to take advantage of it and get on them early. But obviously, they're coming off an emotional win, a comeback win for them, so they're going to be excited."
"December has been one of our busiest months," Woodcroft added. "I think we've done a good job managing energy reservoirs. In the end, our focus is on us tonight. Our focus is on building on the game we had in Dallas. Our focus is on making sure we're playing towards an identity that continues to show."
Warren Foegele scored the game-winning goal in Wednesday's win to mark a positive return to the lineup for the Markham, ON product, who notched his fourth of the season on a new-look second line with Leon Draisaitl and Kailer Yamamoto.
"Yeah, it was huge," Foegele said. "I think just confidence-wise, it wasn't fun sitting out. Any way you can contribute, especially on the stat sheet, it feels good and it feels better to get the win. We needed those points, and we have a big one tonight."
Ryan McLeod centred the fourth line at Friday's morning skate and was activated off Injured Reserve in the afternoon, meaning the 23-year-old will be the next Oiler to come back from injury and try to have an immediate impact after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury.
"He's a big part of our team," Foegele said of his teammate. "He transports the puck so well and he uses his speed to bring defenders with him. It's exciting to have him back and he's a big part of this locker room too, so guys are excited that he's back."
LINE 'EM UP
The challenge of facing the Stars and having more players starting to return to the lineup for the Oilers on Wednesday led to a lineup shuffle in Dallas that immediately paid dividends.
With Foegele back to the fold, Woodcroft returned the spine of Edmonton's top nine to Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins down the middle to carry their own lines with some new winger combinations.
It proved to be the right decision when Foegele linked up with Draisaitl on the game-winner, sniping one over netminder Jake Oettinger's right shoulder in the third period as a flex for the Oilers newly-assembled lines.
"Yeah, I thought all lines were going," Foegele said. "Were in a good rhythm, and it's hard to defend when we kind of spread our big dogs, right? Because each line kind of has someone with a big skill set. "I thought we just played really hard as a group and were hard to play against."

PRE-RAW | Warren Foegele 12.23.22

Head Coach Jay Woodcroft and Assistant Coach Dave Manson are big believers in the three-headed beast down the middle for the Oilers, but aren't going to be prisoners of their own decisions by letting the game script dictate how and if they need to make adjustments on the fly.
While splitting the three centers on this occasion has paid off, there will be times and situations when the Dynamic Duo might find themselves reunited in order to provide the spark needed. Alternatively, their separation might kickstart some well-rounded scoring like in the 6-3 win over the Stars.
"Circumstances were what they were, and I think that's part of what makes us who we are as a team is that we can win games in different ways," Woodcroft said. "We can win games with different configurations and we're going to reserve the right to be flexible."
Ultimately, the look that looks right for the opponent will be the one that wins out -- like it was on Wednesday.
"The look of our team that I like the best I think is when we win games, and I think you have to maintain a level of flexibility and you have to make sure you're using real-time information to make decisions," Woodcroft said.

PRE-RAW | Jay Woodcroft 12.23.22

The last time there were larger alternations to the starting lineup, you need to go back nearly a month and 13 games to when Foegele and McLeod went down injured at Madison Square Garden. The Oilers made due with a couple of important missing pieces and hope to improve on those solid results with this new-look lineup.
"I think for us at that time, if you remember New York City, it was the Rangers game and we ended up sustaining even more injuries," Woodcroft said. "But there were four or five top-nine forwards out for a good period of time, and that was a decision we made. The team went 7-4-2 with that kind of look, so we were able to weather the storm so to speak with some of those bad luck injuries that we had."
Woodcroft continued: "It played itself out, and there's another opportunity as we're returning some people to full health to move the pieces around the chessboard like we like to say, and we got a good response in Dallas. But that was 48 hours ago. We're in an everyday business, and we'll see what tonight brings, but we're looking to build on that Dallas game, that's for sure."
LINEUP NOTES
McLeod took line rushes on the fourth line with Dylan Holloway and Derek Ryan at Friday's morning skate before being activated off IR in the afternoon to pave the way for his return to the lineup tonight against Vancouver.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner was in the starter's net at the pre-game practice and is 10-8-1 this season with a 2.84 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.
>> VIEW THE OILERS PROJECTED LINEUP VS. CANUCKS
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. CANUCKS
WATCH: 7:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet
Oilers Team Scope
The Edmonton Oilers ended a three-game skid in Dallas on Wednesday thanks to some new-look lines that found chemistry right away in a 6-3 victory over the Stars.
"I thought the game went to a rhythm that we wanted to dictate at," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said post-game. "Different teams present different challenges, and the Dallas Stars are a well-coached, well-oiled machine right now. They're leading their division for a reason, and we just felt that it was time to do a few other things."
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins reverted back to centing their own lines at American Airlines Arena to allow Woodcroft to re-organize some forward pairs around the Oilers three-headed beast down the middle.
The Oilers scored three times in the final period, including the game-winner from Warren Foegele on a connection with linemate Draisaitl before McDavid went five-hole for his 29th of the season to extend his NHL-leading point streak to 14 games. Zach Hyman and Jesse Puljujarvi flanked the captain, while Draisaitl joined up with Foegele and Kailer Yamamoto to complete the top six.
Mattias Janmark added an empty-netter against his former club to finish off a three-point night with two goals and an assist alongside Nugent-Hopkins, who had a goal and two helpers. Klim Kostin chipped in with two assists on a night of well-rounded contributions for the Oilers to get back to winning ways and a 18-14-2 record.
"Nuge is probably one of the hottest guys in the league right now, so playing with him is awesome," Janmark said. "I think Klim played a really good game. He's easy to play with, he hangs onto the puck and wins battles. He made a great play to me on the first goal there, so it's a good game."

POST-RAW | Jay Woodcroft 12.21.22

Canucks Team Scope
What a return it was for Elias Pettersson.
After missing six games due to illness, the Swede returned on Thursday night and recorded two goals and three assists, along with the shootout winner, in a come-from-behind 6-5 victory for the Vancouver Canucks over the Seattle Kraken.
The Canucks trailed 4-2 going into the third period, where Pettersson set up goals from Andrei Kuzmenko and Brock Boeser before tying the game in the last two minutes with the net empty. Pettersson struck the post in overtime, but beat Martin Jones with a forehand deke in the third round of the shootout to give the Canucks the extra point in a game they trailed by two goals three separate times.
The Canucks conclude back-to-back games before the holiday break tonight against the Oilers at Rogers Place in search of consecutive victories to reboot their push in the Pacific Division. Vancouver sits seven points outside of a wild card position in the Western Conference.

POST-RAW | Mattias Janmark 12.21.22

By The Numbers
Friday's game will mark Edmonton's second of four games against Vancouver this season and the second and final game at home... The next time these teams will meet is Jan. 21 in Vancouver... The last time these teams met was on Oct. 12 in Edmonton, with the Oilers winning 5-3... Connor McDavid leads the team with 58 career points against Vancouver and also has a team leading 20 goals and 38 assists against the Canucks...
McDavid is currently on 14-game point streak, posting 30 points (13G, 17A), marking the third longest point streak of his career... Tyson Barrie is on an eight-game point streak, posting 12 assists... Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is on a five-game point streak, notching eight points (4G, 4A)... The Oilers rank 1st in the NHL in goals for in the second period with 47... They also rank tied for first in the league in third period goals with 48...

POST-RAW | Zach Hyman 12.21.22

Injury Report
OILERS - Oscar Klefbom (shoulder) is on IR; Mike Smith (undisclosed) is on IR; Evander Kane (wrist) is on IR; Ryan McLeod (undisclosed) is on IR; Philip Broberg (undisclosed) is day-to-day; Ryan Murray (undisclosed) is day-to-day.
CANUCKS - Thatcher Demko (unsidclosed) is on IR; Tanner Pearson (hand) is on IR; Tucker Poolman (undisclosed) is on IR; Micheal Ferland (concussion) is on IR; Travis Dermott (concussion) is on IR.
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com