The Edmonton Oilers continue their three-game homestand with a Thursday night contest against the New York Islanders.
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 6:30 p.m. MT, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY VIDEO
COMING SOON: OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. NYI
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Kailer Yamamoto
PRE-GAME RAW | Dylan Holloway
RECENT VIDEOS
PRACTICE | Coach Jay Woodcroft
PRACTICE | Leon Draisaitl
PRACTICE | Tyson Barrie
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Islanders Statistics
Stats Comparison
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
OILERS PLUS: The Drop Episode 11 Debutes
GAME RECAP: Seattle 5, Oilers 2
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Thursday's game on Sportsnet West at 7:00 PM MT.

INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from the Oilers, including the release of episode 11 of The Drop which chronicles Evander Kane's traumatic injury suffered against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - The Edmonton Oilers look to break out of a poor stretch of results on home ice tonight when the New York Islanders visit Rogers Place.
"It's a good team coming in," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "I think they have four more points than us in the standings and the way they go about their business is pretty simple, and straightforward. I think they have some D-men that can pound the puck, they get to the net and they make you pay if you make careless mistakes."
The Oilers have lost five straight on home ice (0-4-1), having led at different times in four of those losses while allowing only 17 shots to the Winnipeg Jets in the outlier meeting on New Year's Eve that ended in a 2-1 defeat for the Blue & Orange.
The wins haven't come for Edmonton at home recently, but the work put in by the players to establish those leads is valuable nonetheless, with the Oilers focus falling on preventing those mistakes and momentary lapses in the game.
"I like what you said there. In every one of those games, we felt they were winnable," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "What gets lost when you don't get the result is all the good things that you did in order to put yourself in those positions for us.
The Oilers held a two-goal lead on the Seattle Kraken early in the second period last time out on Thursday before falling behind 4-2 in an 11-minute stretch before the end of the frame. It was another instance of taking their foot off the gas that the players and coaches in the locker room are keen to correct in order get back to winning ways on home ice.
"We talked about it the other night using last game as an example. It comes down to certain moments within a game," Woodcroft added. "Hockey is a game of mistakes. We understand that, but there are certain moments in the game where we feel we can be better in those are important moments."
"I can't tell the players, I can't tell the coaching staff when the most important in tonight's game is going to be. I don't know that not ahead of time. But I do know that the team that managed those moments the best is the one that's going to walk out of this building with two points. I think our team game is in a pretty good spot, but those moments within games I think we can do a lot better job."

For how the Oilers feel they're progressing, the players and coaches feel their close to correcting their record at Rogers Place after operating at home through this point of the campaign with a 9-11-1 record.
"I think we're really close," forward Kailer Yamamoto said. "We get two quick ones and then we kind of let our foot off the gas. I think we just got to keep the pedal down and keep working."
"We just got to get out of that rhythm. When we're up the games, we just got to keep the foot on the pedal, just keep going at teams and not be satisfied. We had a team meeting yesterday, and I think that's the one thing we talked about is just never being satisfied. I find throughout games, we get a lead, and I feel like we get a little bit complacent. We just need to get that out of our game."

WORLD JUNIOR WAGER

Kailer Yamamoto begrudgingly stood in front of the media for his pre-game availability donning a Team Canada jersey.
"Yeah, I'm not happy about it. I'm not happy about it," he said with a smile.
The Spokane, Wash. product made a friendly wager with Oilers Assistant Equipment Manager Brad Harrison on the result of Wednesday night's Canada-USA semi-final at the World Juniors, and ultimately, he had a debt to pay.

The bet was looking pretty good for Yamamoto when the USA jumped to a 2-0 advantage in the first period, but Canada pressed to take the lead before a no-goal call on a borderline goaltender interference penalty made the American think it might not be his day.
"It was a great bet actually to start out the game. It was a great bet. I was all fired up," he said. "They went up 1-0 and (Harrison) goes, 'all right, bet's off. We're not doing it anymore.' And when they tied it 2-2 and he's like, 'all right, we're still going,' and then it ended up being 6-2."
"Team USA played a really good game. I thought they should have won, but a couple of tough calls. I thought the first goal they disallowed, I thought it should have counted. Harry disagrees, but yeah, I'm not happy about it today."

HOLLOWAY HOLDING HIS OWN

Forward Dylan Holloway is beginning to show more signs of adjusting to the NHL level.
"I feel good and confidence feels good," he said. "I feel comfortable making plays out there."
The former University of Wisconsin Badger only has a goal and three assists to his name in 35 games this season, but Holloway has settled into a bottom-six role where's he's learned that contributions at this level can go beyond just recording points.
Holloway has played with an extra edge in recent games, getting involved in a fight with Seattle's Vince Dunn on the west coast before having one of his most noticeable games in the return fixture at Rogers Place this past Tuesday.
"Yeah, confidence is huge," Holloway said. "I think that's definitely a big part of it. I think you've just got to kind of build on the things that you think you're doing well and then the mistakes, you've just got to learn from them. You can't take them as a negative. It's a learning process. So that's the big thing for me to just learn from it and try and build my confidence as best I can.

It's also important to feel like you belong, and Holloway thinks that he's finally there.
"More real and it feels like I'm a part of it," he said. "It feels like this is the team I belong on, so I feel good and I think it comes back to the confidence thing. I think confidence feels pretty good and I would like to start contributing more on offence, but I think for me the biggest thing is just to be able to learn how to play the game properly and be good defensively and then go from there."
To the coaching staff, what they've seen from Holloway at this point in his career is encouraging for his long-term outlook as an Oiler.
"I think Dylan, his process has been correct," Woodcroft said. "He made some mistakes early on and I think he's averaging around, especially recently, the ten-minute mark in minutes played. I think he's figuring his way out in the best league in the world. I think the more that he plays, the more he learns what he can and can't do at this level."
"He's figuring it out and then he sees what he can and can't do, so we're very bullish on him as a player. He's got all the raw materials needed to be an effective player and as I said, we're excited about him and his future."

LINEUP NOTES

Forward Klim Kostin will look to continue making positive impacts on the game, but tonight, it'll be with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman after the Russian practiced on the top line yesterday.
"I think for Klim, what's great about him is that he's someone who's taken advantage of his opportunity," Woodcroft said.
Names like Pat Maroon and Zack Kassian have set the precedent over the years for big bodies being able to have success on the top line with the world's most dynamic player, and Kostin will try to keep that trend going tonight.
"I think he's a big body. He goes hard to the net. He's got good hands in tight, and when he plays direct and simple, he's an effective player," Woodcroft added. "But in terms of an example of someone taking advantage of opportunity, again, we go to talking about coaching with our eyes and coaching with what we see. He's a good example of that."
Jack Campbell will get the nod between the pipes for the Oilers after the netminder came into the second period of Tuesday's loss in relief of Stuart Skinner. Campbell made 15 saves on 17 shots in the 2-1 loss to Winnipeg on New Year's Eve in his last start and is showing signs of a turnaround from his 3.80 goals-against average and .877 save percentage this season.
"Yeah, I think Jack's a good goaltender and everyone goes through tough stretches," Woodcroft said. "And when you go through a tough stretch, you learn about yourself. I think you get back to some foundation pieces about your game, and I thought he went in and gave us a really good half-game there when he went in against Seattle."
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. ISLANDERS
STREAM: 7:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet West
Oilers Team Scope
The home cooking hasn't been hitting right for the Oilers as of late.
Edmonton comes into Thursday's game looking to snap a stretch of hard luck Rogers Place performances, with the team going 0-4-1 in their last five games on home ice. During that stretch, the Oilers had lead in four of the five games with the one outlier being the contest against Winnipeg where they outshot the Jets by a 32-17 margin.
In their last contest, Edmonton jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Seattle early into the second period, but the wheels would fall off for an 11-minute stretch which would ultimately lead to their undoing.
The Kraken would score a quartet of goals during the Oilers mid-frame sag in performance, with a late empty netter capping off the 5-2 victory for the visitors.
"I think what gets lost in a lot of that is there's been moments in games, big moments, that haven't been our finest hour that we can learn from and get better," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said about the recent lapses. "The thing we want to make sure is that we're paying attention to the lessons and we're not deaf to them."
The Oilers will now go up against a team that they thoroughly dominated everywhere but the scoreboard in their last meeting. Edmonton fired 49 shots towards New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin, who did not allow a single puck to make its way past him in a 3-0 shutout victory at UBS Arena back on Nov. 23. Edmonton's top-ranked power play went 0-5 on the night, while the Islanders also scored a shorthanded goal in the contest.

Islanders Team Scope
The Islanders will be heading into town riding the wave of a big 6-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night. As has been the trend, New York saw offensive contributions from up and down their lineup with five different goal scorers on the evening. Aatu Raty, Matt Barzal, Anders Lee, Sebastien Aho each notched a tally while Jean-Gabrel Pageau scored goals nine and 10 on year. Ilya Sorokin made the start for New York and turned aside 24 of 26 shots for his 14th victory of the season.
It was Sorokin who was the thorn in the Oilers side the last time these two teams met. The goaltender put on a spectacular performance with his 49-save shutout and he has shown no signs of slowing down since with the NHL's third-best save percentage (.926 per cent) on the season. The Islanders do have a solid insurance plan if they deem Sorokin needs a rest, with long-time NHL starter Semyon Varlamov and his .919 save percentage waiting in the wings. The duo has helped make the Islanders the sixth stingiest team in the NHL, allowing only 2.67 goals against per game.
Offensively, it's the usual face of Matt Barzal who sits atop the Islanders leader board. The 25-year-old is just over a point-per game pace with 40 points (10G, 30A) in his first 39 contests. The Islanders star has scored in four consecutive games for New York and has seven points (5G, 2A) over that stretch.
"Maybe I am looking to shoot a little more," Barzal said after his three-point night against the Canucks. "It doesn't feel like that mentally, but maybe I am pulling the trigger a little quicker than the past."

By The Numbers
The Oilers pace the NHL with 45 power-play goals scored in 2022-23... In turn, the Oilers have scored the second-lowest percentage of goals at even strength this season with 64.5 per cent of their tallies coming while teams are equal... On the other side of the ledger, the Islanders have scored the second-highest percentage of goals while at even strength at 80.2 per cent... New York is just 2-for-32 on the power play in their last 11 games... On the other hand, the Oilers power play went 21-for-53 in the month of December, operating at a 39.6 per cent rate....
The Islanders have taken a scoring by committee approach this season with six different players already having eclipsed double-digit goals on the campaign... New York is currently 21-5-1 when scoring at least three goals in a game this year... The Islander have only won 9-of-39 road games all-time against the Oilers... Leon Draisaitl currently sits one assist away from number 400 in his NHL career in only 585 games... If Draisaitl records an assist against the Islanders he will be the fifth-fastest Oiler to hit that mark, trailing only Wayne Gretzky (290), Connor McDavid (426), Paul Coffey (464), and Jari Kurri (523)...
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 day-to-day.
ISLANDERS - Adam Pelech (concussion) is on IR; Simon Holmstrom (knee) is on IR; Kyle Palmieri (upper body) is on IR); Cal Clutterbuck (upper body) is on IR.
-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com