PREVIEW: Oilers at Canucks

The Edmonton Oilers begin a three-game West Coast road trip on Monday night when they face the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:00 PM MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Canucks

VANCOUVER, BC – On Monday night, the Edmonton Oilers will return to where their challenging start to the 2023-24 season began as they attempt to correct course from their 2-7-1 record by beginning a new 10-game segment of games with a victory.

“We're going there to win a hockey game, to get back on track, do it the right way and take care of the details,” forward Leon Draisaitl said.

The Oilers will begin a three-game road trip at Rogers Arena on Monday against the Vancouver Canucks, who defeated the Oilers twice over a home-and-away set to begin the season by a combined margin of 12-4.

Including their 8-1 defeat to Vancouver back on Oct. 11, Edmonton has been outscored 41-27 so far this season, with their 2.70 goals per game ranking 23rd in the NHL.

The Canucks are looking to win three in a row against the Oilers for the first time since a five-game win streak from Oct. 11, 2014 to April 11, 2015, and their eight wins as part of their 8-2-1 record to begin the season are tied for the most through the first 11 games in their franchise’s history.

The Blue & Orange, meanwhile, have lost six of their last seven games after falling 5-2 to the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon in a game where mental lapses in big moments (after they score and after the start of a period), along with coverage issues around their own crease, were the main reasons they weren't able to secure the two points after scoring the game's first goal.

The Oilers remain one of only five teams in the NHL to have yet to secure a come-from-behind win this season, while losing four total games by the comeback variety.

"It's little things that matter, right?" Draisaitl said. "We say all the right things and we just can't seem to do the right things right now, and obviously when you're struggling or when you're lacking confidence in general as a group, it seems to spiral downwards much faster than anything else. Every team goes through this, but we have to make sure we catch it early."

The team's players and coaches are keeping their composure in order to maintain a high level of confidence in their group that's been near the top of the NHL standings over the last two years, knowing that any turnaround is going to have to come from fixing the issues that have caused them the most headaches this season.

“I think we’ve had to slowly create and build our own confidence again and again. There's no one out there that magically is going to come in and fix that or change that. It's coming from the group, it's coming from the guys within the room, and there's no one to look to but ourselves.”

The Oilers aren’t pointing fingers in the locker room as they work to limit their individual errors, improve their offensive output and reduce their goals against – all of which have helped contribute to their tempered start to the new campaign that leaves them second from bottom in the Pacific Division with five points from a possible 20.

Edmonton owns one of the highest amounts of high-danger scoring chances in the NHL (118), but is seeing the results go the other direction with a league-low .682 save percentage in high-danger scoring chances this season and being outscored 27-11 in that regard through 10 games.

“I think we're just giving up too much,” forward Derek Ryan said. “I think obviously some guys aren't scoring, but at the end of the day, that's what I think is the main answer. We're not outscoring our mistakes right now. But I think the biggest thing is giving up goals. I think that's the number one thing we can focus on.”

Along with their goaltending and bottom-six forwards, who've combined to register only two goals and two assists so far this season, the Oilers will hope to see more offence from their stars Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, who look to extend respective 20 and 17-game point streaks against Vancouver despite having gone the last five games without a goal.

Draisaitl, who's gone seven games without a goal after scoring in each of Edmonton's opening three contests, hasn't had an eight-game streak without a goal since Feb. 19, 2021 to Mar. 6, 2021 but is putting the onus on himself to rediscover his scoring touch in an attempt to regain the team some confidence.

"Just trying to find more offence. Just try to create more," he said. "Again, no one seems to have that much confidence right now in our group. That starts at the top and we know that we can be an awful lot better. So does the bottom part of our lineup. It's a group effort that's not getting it done right now, so we're going to have to figure it out."

The Oilers used 11 forwards and six defencemen in Saturday's loss to Nashville due to injuries to Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown, who didn't participate in the club's pre-flight skate on Sunday.

Sam Gagner was also absent from the practice due to "bumps and bruises", but Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said the centre is still expected to play in Vancouver.

With the ability to recall a player on an emergency basis after playing against the Predators shorthanded, centre James Hamblin was recalled from the Bakersfield Condors on Sunday to provide the Blue & Orange their 12th forward for Monday's meeting with the Canucks.

GAMEDAY ESSENTIALS

VIDEO

• RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft
• RAW | Leon Draisaitl
• RAW | Derek Ryan

WRITTEN

• RELEASE: Oilers recall Hamblin from Bakersfield
• GAME RECAP: Predators 5, Oilers 2