PREVIEW: Oilers at Predators

The Edmonton Oilers begin a two-game road trip against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night, with Mattias Ekholm returning to Bridgestone Arena for the first time since being acquired by Edmonton at the 2023 Trade Deadline,

You can watch the game on Sportsnet West at 6:00 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Predators

NASHVILLE, TN – The Edmonton Oilers know it hasn’t been the start they’ve wanted to the regular season with an 0-2-0 record, but they also have a firm understanding of how quickly things can turn around.

All you need is one win to steer you back in the right direction.

“We could be .500 in the next two games – who knows?” Evander Kane said on Monday. “But our focus is on tomorrow night, getting our first win of the season, getting a good feeling back in the room and moving on.”

The Blue & Orange begin a two-game road trip on Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators following back-to-back defeats to open the campaign to the Vancouver Canucks. Mattias Ekholm is set to return to Bridgestone Arena for the first time as a member of the opposition after playing in 794 NHL games for the Predators over 12 seasons from 2011 to 2023.

The 33-year-old defender suited up for his first game in over four months on Saturday, recording 15:47 of ice time and finishing minus-1 with one shot on goal after missing the entirety of Oilers Training Camp and preseason with a hip flexor injury.

Head Coach Jay Woodcroft saw the same steady Ekholm they were lucky to acquire from the Predators at last season's Trade Deadline despite his long layoff from competitive play, but acknowledged it'll take the veteran some time to get back to 100 percent.

"I saw him go back for a puck, get a forechecker on his back, spin, and pop it to the next player," Woodcroft said. "That's what we miss when he's not in the lineup. He has a real poise about him. But that said, he's missed a lot of time. You have to respect that and understand that he's going to continue to work his way into being who he is."

You can guarantee that his teammates will be using his return to Bridgestone Arena as fuel toward the team's pursuit of their first win of the season.

"I'm sure that heading to Nashville is going to be an emotional time for him, and I know his teammates are going to lay it on the line to make sure he walks out of that building happy."

A BETTER EFFORT

The Oilers came out of the gate with vengeance on Saturday in hopes of rectifying their 8-1 opening-night defeat to the Canucks with an effort that was more reminiscent of the standard they’d set for themselves in last season’s second half.

They certainly accomplished that goal, heavily outshooting the Canucks 40-21 in a 4-3 defeat after Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring 42 seconds into the game on a hard-working shift around the blue paint that exemplified how they hope to attack moving forward this season with more net-front attacks and hard-area battles.

Despite two more goals on the power play from Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Vancouver caught the Oilers for four goals on 16 shots – three at even strength – and received an excellent 37-save showing from Casey DeSmith to seal their second straight victory over Edmonton.

“We did a lot better than we did the night before against those guys, but at the end of the day, we can’t expect to score five or six goals every game to win,” Mattias Ekholm said. “We have to limit goals against and be a little bit harder in certain areas.”

While a winless record over their first two games isn’t how they expected to start the new season, Oilers players and coaches are seeing progress in building their game back up to the high standard they know they’re capable of reaching after showing in their home opener at Rogers Place on Saturday that they’re a far better team than the one that came out on opening night.

But with the goal of getting better every day – win or lose – there’s still plenty of work to be done to get where they want to be.

“We understand the expectations, the excitement, and obviously, the desire to win in this city and we all feel the exact same way,” Kane added. “I think the community and the fans understand that we as players feel that exact same way, if not more, and want to put our best foot forward.

“It's not going to be perfect every night. It hasn't been perfect these first two games, but we look forward to getting better as the season goes on.”

LINEUP NOTES

At Tuesday's practice, the Oilers tested out a few different combinations in their top-nine forwards that could come out of the gate for Tuesday's tilt with the Predators at Bridgestone Arena.

Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid were paired up with Evander Kane on a stacked top line, with the latter having experience playing alongside the Dynamic Duo at different times during his two years in Oil Country. 

"I played with them the last couple of seasons and we seem to all work well together and know how each other plays," Kane said. "I think we can hopefully generate some more opportunities off the rush. We haven't had too many odd-man rushes in these first couple of games, so hopefully, we come out of our zone clean and create some stuff off the rush.

"When we get into the other team's end, just be hard around the net and get open for those guys."

Warren Foegele's solid presence over the first two games appears to have awarded the winger a look alongside Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the second line, while the move by the coaching staff to shake things up also gives Connor Brown the chance to develop some chemistry with Ryan McLeod and Dylan Holloway.

"I think Warren's shown up in a lot of chances for. He's going to the right areas," Woodcroft said. "It hasn't gone in for him, but he's going to the good spots and we're just mixing some things up. I think it's a good thing.

"We're trying to find the right chemistry in order to find some of that offensive success, while at the same time, tidying up a few areas defensively as well."

GAME DAY ESSENTIALS

VIDEO

• OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game at Predators
• PRE-RAW | Mattias Ekholm
• PRE-RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft
• OTHER SIDE | Tyson Barrie
• OTHER SIDE | Coach Andrew Brunette
• RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft
• RAW | Connor McDavid
• RAW | Mattias Ekholm
• RAW | Evander Kane

WRITTEN

• BLOG: Ekholm expecting emotional return to Nashville
• GENE'S BLOG: Home away from Ekholm
• BLOG: Oilers committed to earning high-danger chances
• GAME RECAP: Canucks 4, Oilers 3