The Edmonton Oilers return to Rogers Place on Wednesday for an 8:00 p.m. matchup against the Los Angeles Kings.
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 7:30pm MT, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. LAK
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Brett Kulak
PRE-GAME RAW | Leon Draisaitl
RECENT VIDEOS
PRACTICE | Retros Return
RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft
RAW | Stuart Skinner
RAW | Connor McDavid
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Kings Statistics
Stats Comparison
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
BLOG: Throwing it back
GENE'S BLOG: Royal Reunion
BLOG: Consistency the key
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Wednesday's game on Sportsnet West at 8:00 PM MT.

INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from Oilers practice at Rogers Place on Tuesday, including the players and coaches speaking towards tonight's debut of the Oilers Reverse Retro jerseys.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - No grudges? No chance.
It might've happened more than six months ago, but you'd best believe that the memories of their seven-game first-round series in last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs are still fresh on the minds of both sets of players from the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings.
The Oilers faced elimination after a Game 5 overtime defeat to the Kings back in May that pushed Edmonton to the brink down 3-2 in the series. After going into the hostile territory of Los Angeles to earn a victory win-or-go-home scenario, a shutout 2-0 win on home ice sealed the deal for the Oilers and sent the Kings packing into the offseason.
Wednesday's revival of the rivalry, where the Oilers will debut their Reverse Retro jerseys, will be the first meeting between the two since their spirited first-round series.
"I would say that our players, most of whom played in that playoff series, would have a keen understanding if the shoe was on the other foot in terms of how you'd want to react the next time you came up here," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said.
"I think both teams are excited," forward Leon Draisaitl added. "Obviously it was a great series and very heated, but I think there's always maybe a little extra rivalry feeling going on when you play a team for the first time after you eliminate them from the playoffs. It should be a good game."
To the bench boss, last season's playoff series is sure to spark back up some animosity tonight between the two sides, but the simple reality of tonight's game is that the Oilers have the opportunity to gain ground on an opponent in the Pacific Division and improve their home results that have lacked through nine games at Rogers Place (4-5-0).
"What I go to is the fact that this team is in front of us in the standings, that we have a great opportunity to improve our play at home, and that starts against a very game Los Angeles Kings team tonight," Woodcroft said.

The Oilers are fresh off a few days at home of resting physically, recalibrating mentally and retooling their game after a 2-2-0 road trip down the eastern United States that included four games in six days.
"I think what you try and do when you have a little bit of a break between games is you try and get some rest," Woodcroft said. "There are some minor bumps and bruises that aren't necessarily public information, but you allow people to heal up and not only physically reset, but mentally reset as well."
The Oilers are 5-2-0 on the road so far this campaign and need to bring some of that success back to Rogers Place, where they're 4-5-0 in nine home games. Just as they utilized home ice to claim the series win in Game 7 six months ago against Los Angeles at Rogers Place, where they'll have the opportunity to get their home record back to .500 tonight with a strong test versus the Kings.
"It gives you a little bit more time to dive a little deeper into it and spend a little more time talking about it to try and figure it out, so the last couple of days were good for us," Woodcroft said. "I thought we had a good meeting yesterday taking stock of where we're at so that we can take a step over this next little while. I think we had a good practice yesterday, a good pre-game skate today, and we have a very competitive team coming into our building."
"That's certainly an area that we want to improve. We want to bring that road mindset that's allowed us to go 5-2 on the road to home ice, where we know we can better."
TAKING STOCK
The Oilers aren't in a precarious position in the standings, but that isn't masking any belief that they could've been a lot better off by this point.
"I'm pretty open with where we're at," Woodcroft said. "Nobody in our organization runs away from the fact that we feel we can play better. We don't think we've fired on all cylinders. We don't think we're yet at the level we know we can get to, so in terms of areas that we want to improve or take stock with, I've talked about them ad nauseum."
US Thanksgiving has always been the de facto date in the NHL where the separation between the playoff and non-playoff teams really begins to show; if you're in a playoff spot come then, it's usually a good statistical indicator that you'll be playing bonus hockey in May and June.
As that date inches closer, the Oilers feel they're scratching the surface of what they can accomplish, but need to start seeing some growth.

"I think there's an expiration on patience with that type of thing," Woodcroft said. "We're getting into the middle of November here, close to the US Thanksgiving. We are in a battle with other teams around the league, and if you're watching the league, I think you're seeing very few teams have separated, but some of them have."
"What I think is important is to continue with the mindset to get better, to address areas of your game, to take small steps along the way and find ways to put wins on the board."
The Oilers held a productive team meeting on Tuesday before practice where they assessed a number of deficiencies in their game, including conceding some of the most shots and goals against in the League this season through 16 games.
Improvements to those details begin in the offensive zone with a consistent five-player approach to backchecking and limiting opponents' opportunities for first, second and third chances in Edmonton's end.

"I think on the defensive side of things, you want to make sure you're taking care of the heart of the d-zone; some teams call it home plate, others call it the heart, but you want to make sure that if you're going to give up chances or shots that they're outside of that area," Woodcroft said.
"I think the first thing is you want to make sure as you're coming back into D zone that you stop in that area and protect that area. I think if you do a good job there, what happens is you limit second opportunities and third opportunities and certainly been a focus for us."
It's a team approach to getting better that for some fall on their individual responsibilities towards limiting opponents.
"For us, it's controlling the game more than chasing it," defenceman Brett Kulak said. "I feel for me personally, I'm just chasing the game a little bit. In the first periods, we come out and the other teams hold on to the pucks more and have a little more time and space than we'd like to give them. I think that's going to be a big thing for us and just play with it, have possession, and then create more of our own chances."
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. KINGS
STREAM: 8:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet West
Oilers Team Scope
The Oilers return home to Rogers Place after a long Eastern Conference road trip where the team went 2-2 against some of the best the East has to offer.
Edmonton picked up the full two points in Tampa Bay and Florida, while Washington and Carolina both handed an Oilers team searching for consistency the loss.
Against the Panthers it was another strong performance by goaltender Stuart Skinner that helped propel Edmonton victory, with the 24-year-old netminder turning aside 40 of 42 shots in the 4-2 win. So far this season, Skinner is tied for the league's fifth best save percentage with a .932 mark, while adding a 2.53 goals-against average and three wins to his young resume.
On offence, Tyson Barrie scored a pair of goals in very similar fashion, ripping a pair of slap shots from the point past Panthers starter Spencer Knight for his third and fourth goal if the season. Warren Foegele continued his recent run of strong play, scoring the game winner. His current form has seen the 26-year-old potentially elevated to Leon Draisaitl's wing on Wednesday against the Kings.

Draisaitl and Connor McDavid both recorded a point in the game against the Panthers to extend their multi-game point streaks to 11 and 10 games respectively.
After a much needed day off in Florida, the Oilers headed home and skated on Rogers Place ice in preparation for a team they defeated in seven games in the first round of the NHL Playoffs last season.
"We traveled properly yesterday and we had a good practice today and we're preparing for a divisional opponent in very competitive, very game LA Kings team," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We use rest to our advantage and we're trying to prepare for a team that's directly in front of us so we know how important the game is tomorrow. I thought today was a good step in the right direction to prepare for them."
Kings Team Scope
Los Angeles comes to Edmonton with a solid 10-7-1 record and are currently sitting in second place in the Pacific Division, albeit with two more games played than the Oilers. The matchup will be the first time the two teams have met since last year's postseason where the Oilers eliminated the Kings in seven games to advance past the first round.
"It was a pretty close series. There were a few games that didn't go our way. I'm sure they would say the same thing, but when you play seven games, it's not because it was lopsided one way or the other," Head Coach Todd McLellan said about the series. "There were moments where they had some of their game breakers take over and willed them to a win, and at the end of the day, that's probably the difference."
The Kings are coming off a near comeback effort against the Calgary Flames where they battled back from a 5-2 deficit, but fell short in the 6-5 loss at the Scotiabank Saddledome. After Kings practice at Rogers Place on Tuesday, their head coach said the issues that lead to Calgary's six-goal outburst were addressed with his team.
"When we watched the Calgary game again, I think the will and the effort wanted to be there, but mentally, some real poor decisions and some poor execution. So we just talked about that," McLellan said. "We showed them a few clips that we thought were doing well in the five games prior, that we didn't do very well against Calgary, and that we'll need tomorrow night against a real good team."

The Kings saw a pair of goals by Arthur Kaliyev, plus markers by Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, and Kevin Fiala in the defeat -- while the Flames were paced by three-point nights by Tyler Toffoli and Elias Lindholm. In net, long-time franchise stalwart Jonathan Quick allowed all six goals against, on 30 Calgary shots in the loss.
Wednesday night's contest will be the first of four meetings between the two teams this season.
By The Numbers
Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are currently tied for the longest and second-longest point streaks of the NHL season with both an 11 & 10 game streak respectively... The 14 points McDavis had in last year's playoff series against the Kings was the most by a player since Doug Gilmour put up 16 against the San Jose Sharks 18 years prior... Stuart Skinner has the NHL's third-best high-danger save percentage in the league with an .896 mark on the season...
Kevin Fiala leads all offseason acquisitions in points heading into Tuesday night's slate of games with 18 (6G, 12A) so far this season... Gabriel Vilardi leads the NHL in net penalties, having drawn 13 while only taking one... The Kings have had the most powerplay opportunities in the NHL with 74, 10 more than the Washington Capitals... Drew Doughty leads the NHL in time-on-ice per game with 26:36 each contest...
Injury Report
OILERS - Tyler Benson (knee) is on IR; Oscar Klefbom (shoulder) is on IR; Mike Smith (undisclosed) is on IR.
KINGS - Jacob Ingham (back) is on IR; Brendan Lemieux (lower-body) is on IR; Alex Iaffallo (lower-body) is on IR.
-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com