The Edmonton Oilers can make it a perfect homestand at Rogers Place on Saturday afternoon with a victory over the New Jersey Devils.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet or listen on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED, beginning at 1:00 pm. MT.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. NJD
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Nurse
PRE-GAME RAW | Yamamoto
RECENT VIDEOS
ASK AN OILER | This Or That Pt. 3
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. BUF
HIGHLIGHTS | EDM 6, BUF 1
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Devils Statistics
Stats Comparison
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Sabres 1
LIVE BLOG: Oilers vs. Sabres
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Saturday's game on Sportsnet at 1:00 PM MT.

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - The Edmonton Oilers are coming off one of their strongest team performances of the season on Thursday night in a 6-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
"That's up there definitely," defenceman Darnell Nurse said of the victory. "Probably the most all-encompassing game we've had in the last month, so there were good signs. We checked well, finished our chances, and special teams were good. You've got to keep that up."
On Saturday afternoon, the Oilers can complete the perfect homestand with a victory over the New Jersey Devils in the final game of a five-game extended stint at Rogers Place.
Five different players turned in multi-point performances as part of an 11-player group that registered at least a point in the victory over the Sabres. The Oilers powerplay scored for the fourth game running, the penalty kill looked well organized once again, and a four-game win streak has the Oilers sitting third in the Pacific Division.
"I think just everyone's just locked in right now," forward Kailer Yamamoto said. "We only have 21 games left in the season, so we've all got to be dialled. I think going into playoffs, you've got to be putting your best foot forward, so we're trying to do that every game. I think we're working towards that."
Over the last month, the players have adopted new systems and philosophies from Head Coach Jay Woodcroft that's returned a 11-5-1 record in the 17 games since his arrival behind the Oilers bench with Assistant Coach Dave Manson.

"We're a month in now with a new staff and the systems being a little bit different. We're playing to our strengths," Nurse said. "There's a better understanding where guys are going to be on the ice, and the adjustments we've made have paid dividends at this point. I think for us, it's good to have had the games we've had so far on this homestand and we want to finish off the right way."
It's safe to say the feeling is good in the Oilers locker room, and Saturday's matinee against the Devils represents a great opportunity to send the team in Monday's Trade Deadline with plenty of confidence in their capabilities to continue competing for a playoff spot.
"I think obviously with our group, we have a strong belief in the guys in our room and our team." Yamamoto said. "But when you can string some wins together, it adds to that."
BUST OUT THE YAMS
At the forefront of a confident run for the Oilers has been the play of Yamamoto, who's posted four goals in his last four games and officially set a new career-high for points on Thursday (27) with a goal and assist.
"I definitely think scoring helps your confidence," he said. "My confidence is a little bit higher right now, and if they're going in, it's probably going to keep getting higher. Hopefully, they keep going in."
A recent knack for finding the back of the net stretches all the way back to the offseason when Yamamoto put more onus on himself to develop his shot and put more shots on net.
"That's one thing I've tried to work on all year is getting my shot volume up," he said. "The more shots you take, the more likely they'll go in, so I'm trying to get that to do up a little bit. But it definitely helps when shots like that are going in.
"I would say definitely the volume of shots. I got some orange pucks this summer too, so a little bit of the weighted pucks to get that puck speed up a little bit."

To Woodcroft, who's observed Yamamoto since he arrived at Rookie Camp after the 23-year-old was drafted 22nd overall by the Oilers in 2017, the goals he's been scoring like Thursday night's venomous one-time snipe off the feed by linemate Connor McDavid shows his improvements in the danger areas.
"I think he's going to hard areas and getting rewarded for it," Woodcroft said. "He's willing to get his nose dirty to score a goal. If you look at where his goals are being scored, they're in the red zone."
Yamamoto's been clicking offensively and finding chemistry on an Oilers first line featuring McDavid and Evander Kane that's combined for 19 points in its last four games.
Combined with Connor's elite skill and Kane's size all-around ability around the blue paint, Yamamoto's forecheck and shot help complete the puzzle for what's become a hard line to shut down.
"Dog-on-a-bone type forechecker," Woodcroft described. "He keeps a lot of plays alive with his tenacity. I think he's elusive on the cycle. I think he makes a good first pass with the puck and he's been a real good complement to those two pieces."
PLAY DAY-TO-DAY
Brick by brick, the Oilers have made meaningful adjustments.
Woodcroft has implemented a day-to-day approach that's since provided troves of improvement in all aspects of their game as players nail down roles and different ways to contribute to a winning culture.
"It's been our focus here to make sure we're improving whether it's a practice day, game day, no matter who we're playing," Nurse said. "The focus on the day-to-day and kind of just getting rid of the outside noise… we're just focusing on what we can control and that's how you have success. You can't focus on anything else."
"We have people on all lines who can contribute in all ways, but not just points; guys are checking hard, blocking shots, winning their battles. You've got to bring that to a whole different level at this time of the year."
Winning their last four games has been great for team and individual confidence, but seeing the compete level in the group is bringing an extra level of gratification to the Oilers locker room.
"The points are fun and all, but the way guys are battling, checking, and committing in that department has also been great," Nurse added.

The positive vibes around the Oilers nearing the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday afternoon has the club's coaches and players feeling good about the pieces they have if Oilers GM & Pres. of Hockey Ops Ken Holland elects to keep the roster status quo ahead of the 1:00 p.m. MT deadline.
To Woodcroft, that feeling hasn't changed since his arrival.
"I've been bullish on our team since day one. We have good players," he said. "I think there's a belief system in the way we have to play in order to have success. On this most recent homestand, we've seen a lot of really good hockey, but we know it's not about what we did yesterday or what we did last week. It's about what we did today in order to prepare ourselves for success for tomorrow, and that's where we're keeping our focus is trying to improve a little bit each day and continue to build our team game.
"If we can keep our attention and focus on the day's business, we think results will take care of itself."
The Oilers returned three injured or ill players back to their lineup for Thursday's win over Buffalo, and getting another body back like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the coming weeks could have the team feeling like they're making a big deadline addition.
"It always feels like there are two or three guys out, so to be starting to get healthy and putting the roster together, we have a lot of really good hockey players who know how to play the game the right way," Nurse said. "It'll be fun to have a full lineup and see what we can do."
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. DEVILS
STREAM: 1:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet
Oilers Team Scope
Leon Draisaitl scored his 40th goal of the season while Mike Smith secured his first victory in a month after making 27 stops in Thursday's 6-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
The victory was a complete effort from the Oilers, who received point contributions from 11 different skaters and carried the play over the full 60 minutes to win their fourth straight contest and improve to 34-23-4.
"I think it was exactly that. It was a full 60 minutes and maybe as good a game we've played all year," defenceman Tyson Barrie, who had a goal and assist, said post-game. "After two periods, we realized we had played a pretty solid game up to that point. We made a point of coming out and drilling home that last 20 to show us what it feels like to play the full game."
The Oilers can make it a perfect five-game homestand on Saturday afternoon with a victory over the New Jersey Devils ahead of Monday afternoon's Trade Deadline.
Devils Team Scope
New Jersey is coming off back-to-back 6-3 losses to the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames in the first two games of their Western Canada road trip.
The Devils went toe-to-toe with the Flames and were tied 2-2 at the midway point of Wednesday's game before things unraveled when Calgary ripped off three straight goals over the last period-and-a-half to condemn the Devils to their fifth road loss in a row.
"Obviously not the result we wanted as a team," New Jersey netminder Jon Gillies said. "We talked about it [Wednesday] morning and I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. The unfortunate part of that is you can do a lot of good things, but when breakdowns happen they're usually going to put it in the back of the net and that's what happened."
The Devils practiced on Friday afternoon at the Downtown Community Arena in Ice District missing a number of players due to illness and injury in Nathan Bastian, Jesper Bratt, Dougie Hamilton, Christian Jaros, Tomas Tatar and Pavel Zacha.
By The Numbers
The Devils won the first meeting this season 6-5 in overtime back on Dec. 31, 2021... The Oilers are 6-2-1 in their last nine games vs. New Jersey... The Devils have lost three of their last four games and five straight road games... The Devils have allowed six goals in each of their last two games... New Jersey's 8-20-2 road record this season is the worst in the NHL (.300 win percentage)...
Jesper Bratt leads the Devils in scoring with 57 points (19G, 38A) in 56 games this season... He has 33 points (11G, 22A) in his last 27 games but no goals in his last eight contests... Jack Hughes is one point shy of 100 for his NHL career... Hughes has 39 points in his last 28 games (1.39 points/game)... All three of Hughes' career points vs. Edmonton came on Dec. 31, 2021 in their last meeting...
The Oilers have won four straight games outscoring opponents 21-10... The Oilers are 11-5-1 in 17 games under Head Coach Jay Woodcroft... The Oilers are 20-0-0 when scoring first & 14-23-4 when trailing first this season... Edmonton is 3-1-2 in six afternoon games this season...
Injury Report
OILERS - Kyle Turris (undisclosed) is on IR; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (upper body) is on IR.
DEVILS - Pavel Zacha (upper body) is day-to-day; Janne Kuokkanen (wrist) is on IR; MacKenzie Blackwood (heel) is on IR; Jonathan Bernier (hip) is on IR; Tyce Thompson (shoulder) is on IR; Mile Wood (hip) is on IR;
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com