PREVIEW: Oilers at Canadiens

The Oilers continue their three-game Eastern Canada road trip against the Montréal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Monday night.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Canadiens

MONTRÉAL, QC – Shake it off.

The Oilers travel to Montreal coming off a 4-3 overtime defeat where they mostly outplayed the Toronto Maple Leafs. They outshot their opposition 30-22, won the special teams battle (1-for-2 on the powerplay and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill), and had more expected goals (1.39 to 1.24) over the duration of the match, as per natural Stat Trick.

Despit losing 40 seconds into overtime, the more important storyline from the game was the health of Darnell Nurse, who was hit with an illegal check to the head from Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves early in the second period and was slow to get up.

Thankfully, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, he was seen walking around and joking with trainers post-game and appears to have avoided any major injury.

“I am worried about our player. Obviously, contact to the head… you don’t want to do that.” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said post-game on Saturday. “You’re worried about his well-being. It was contact to the head and that's what I saw.”

Ryan Reaves was suspended five games by the NHL Department of Safety on Sunday, citing that Reaves "closed in on Nurse as he rounds the net, and delivered a high, hard check that cut across the front of Nurse’s body, missing his core and hitting his head.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shared a similar sentiment and knows it's “tough to see one of your teammates down like that.”

“I think it’s a dangerous play,” Nugent-Hopkins said post-game. “He has got to know Nursey doesn’t see him coming and choose the right path there.”

Reaves did go to the Oilers’ locker room during the third period to apologize “face-to-face” to Nurse according to Friedman. Defenceman Josh Brown was recalled from the AHL's Bakersfield Condors on Sunday by the Oilers.

Jeff Skinner has 27 career goals and 47 career points versus Montreal; these are the highest totals versus any franchise in his career. He has 11 goals and 11 assists over his last 22 games against the Canadiens.

Due in part to the abbreviated 2020/2021 campaign, Connor McDavid has not played an Eastern Conference opponent more than the Montréal Canadiens over his career. In his 25 games against the Canadiens, he has posted nine goals and 32 points. Oddly enough, McDavid has a -6 plus/minus against the Canadiens over his career, which is his second-worst mark against a team (-8 vs. Blues).

This is not to say he hasn’t played well against Montréal as of late. Over his last 10 matchups against the Habs, McDavid has posted six goals and 17 points, including six multi-point games.

The Bell Centre is commonly referred to as the “Mecca of Hockey” and opposing players like Connor McDavid are aware of why.

"It's one of my favourite buildings to play in," he said during their trip to Montreal last year. "The fans are so into the game. There's something about this rink that it's always fun playing here.”.

Connor McDavid is also on record saying that the boos from the Montreal faithful are the “ultimate compliment from a passionate fanbase,” and that it “really only happens in Montreal.”

The Oilers and Canadiens not only play on opposite sides of the country, but only play each other twice a year. There is no place to play on the road like the Bell Centre.

Leon Draisaitl is riding a nine-game point streak against the Canadiens, posting seven goals and 16 points over that span. Five of those games were multi-point efforts. He also posted a four-point night on December 3^rd, 2022.

Zach Hyman had two goals and three points in his first game against the Canadiens as an Oiler but has not recorded a goal in five games since. He will be looking for one Monday in a building he has been familiar with his whole life.

“As a kid growing up, I watched a ton of games on Saturday night in (the Bell Centre), so it's a special place to play in and I've always enjoyed it."

The Montreal Canadiens are one of the winningest franchises in all of sport, but you would not be able to tell that looking at their record so far this season.

They sit with a lacklustre 6-10-2 record, rank dead last in shots on goal per game (24.5) and are second last in the NHL in goals against per game (3.89).

The Canadiens are second to last overall in the NHL to the Nashville Predators.

This isn’t to say they don’t have any standout players, however. Cole Caufield is tied for third in the NHL in goals with 12 and has 15 points on the season. Captain Nick Suzuki is a point-per-game player at 18 points through 18 games, and Calder Trophy hopeful Lane Hutson has 11 points in 18 games.

Stuart Skinner is the projected netminder for the Oilers on Monday, the first night of a back-to-back. Last time out against Montreal, he posted a .958 save percentage in a 2-1 overtime win last year in the same building that he’ll play in on Monday night. He has an overall record of 3-1-0 against the Canadiens.

Samuel Montembeault has played well against the Oilers as of late but hasn’t won a start since March 5^th, 2022. He has tallied averages of a .932 SV% and a record of 1-0-2 over his last three starts against Edmonton.