PREVIEW: Oilers at Utah HC

The Edmonton Oilers begin a three-game road trip on Friday night at the Delta Center with their first-ever matchup against Utah Hockey Club.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 7:00 MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game & Post-Game Shows, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content, including The Drop documentary series.

PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Utah HC

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Nice to see U(tah).

Coming off a five-day break, the Edmonton Oilers return to action on Friday night when they begin a three-game road trip with their first visit to the Delta Center to face Utah Hockey Club.

The Oilers were the Arizona Coyotes' final match in franchise history back on Apr. 17, 2024, when they suffered a 5-2 defeat to give the Desert Dogs a fitting final send-off inside the emotionally charged Mullett Arena. The win clinched the Coyotes the season series with two wins over three meetings in 2023-24, but Edmonton has won seven of the previous nine matchups (7-1-1) against the franchise now known as Utah Hockey Club, who boast 16 of the same players who were part of that notable night in Tempe last April.

With a new facility to visit and a new franchise to face on Friday night for the Oilers, there's a notable buzz over their first visit to the Beehive State.

“It's always exciting,” Leon Draisaitl said Thursday morning. “It's always good to see new facilities, atmospheres and crowds. I’m excited to go and see what it's all about.”

The Oilers are coming off a 6-2 victory over the Rangers, where Connor McDavid recorded two goals and an assist and forward Vasily Podkolzin notched his first goal in Blue & Orange – the Russian forward's first marker in 44 games dating back to March of 2023.

Darnell Nurse scored a short-handed goal in his return from a three-game injury absence, with the penalty kill improving to 16-for-16 over its last seven games, and the PK duo of Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark each put forward two assists in the victory.

"I thought we played an excellent game against Rangers," Corey Perry said. "We were skating, moving the puck, we had guys going to the net and we broke the puck out. It was everything that you wanted to see and emotionally, we were involved in the game and that just tells me right there that this team was ready to play. So that's something we continue to talk about each night and we've gotta be ready tomorrow."

Leon Draisaitl is flirting with a 60-goal pace after scoring his 16^th goal of the season in Edmonton’s win over the Blueshirts, which temporarily tied the German for the League lead in goals with Florida’s Sam Reinhart. You can understand Leon’s desire to keep playing through the break, but any chance your team gets to rest, it’s important to take them as they come.

“I would have rather kept playing, but it's nice to rejuvenate a little bit, get away from hockey and just get to relax,” he said. “I’m excited to get going again, though.”

“The rest is always good, but again, I think many of us would have enjoyed playing for a couple of more weeks and maybe get a little break later on. But we'll get another one in December, which will help.”

Perhaps no one benefitted more from the break than Zach Hyman, who participated in Thursday’s pre-flight practice at Rogers Place as he continues to work his way back from an undisclosed injury that’s resulted in him missing the last two games.

"He's been going through the steps," Knoblauch said. "He's feeling much better, and there's a chance that he's playing this road trip sometime.”

Hyman is travelling with the team and hopes to return before the road trip concludes on Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights, but any time out for the winger is time spent trying to get back to full health and back into the dressing room as quickly as possible.

"No question, it's very frustrating," described Hyman. "Obviously timing-wise, a lot more this week to kind of rest and recover, but like any player, I don't like missing games. I love playing hockey, so I love being out there with the guys. It helps when we win, but it's more frustrating when we lose. It's kind of out of my control, and I'm hoping to get better day by day."

The goals haven't gone in at the rate Hyman was clipping last season – scoring a career-high 54 goals in 80 games – but his coaches and teammates know the type of quality player they'll be receiving back into their lineup when he's ready to return.

"You know that the goals are going to come, and when you're taking that out of your lineup, it's much more difficult," Knoblauch said. "And you look at him playing first line right wing, power play and usually 19-to-20 minutes a night, it leaves a hole [when he can't play]. But we do have other guys that we feel confident in who can step up; not replace him, but step up and help out a little bit more."

Coach Knoblauch believes his team's struggles overall with the power play and fewer chances around the net this season run hand-in-hand with Hyman's lower goal-scoring totals despite having the fourth-most high-danger scoring chances in the NHL this season (46), as per Natural Stat Trick.

"When the power play is not doing well, then you could say, 'Zach Hyman's not tipping in goals or the puck's not getting there.' For him to get his power-play goals, whether that's a backdoor pass or a rebound, everything else has to go around him. He's the last guy that touches the puck. He's the one that scores it, so last year, things were going very well, which he benefited from. When other things aren't going well, let's just say Bouch doesn't get the shots on net. That's hard for him to score goals because that puck's not getting to that area."

One of those players who's helped fill in for Hyman has been Corey Perry, who's assumed net-front duties on the power play and been a veteran contributor for the Oilers.

"He's an extension of the coaching staff," Knoblauch said. "It's one thing for a coach to tell a player what to do, but when a young player or an older vet needs to hear something, it means a lot coming from a veteran."

The 39-year-old continues to be a guiding voice to every player in the locker room, as well as someone who can move up and down the lineup or, in this most recent case, into a power-play role.

"You see how good those guys really are and how fast they move. You're just trying to read off of that," he said. "There's no real recipe, but you're trying to read off of them and figure out where the next play is going before they actually make that play."

The Oilers come into Utah for their inaugural visit holding an 11-9-2 record, knowing a little bit more consistency will be needed to push for first place in the Pacific Division. Edmonton trails Vegas by seven points with a game in hand on their rivals and a match to come on Wednesday, but the Blue & Orange aren't looking past Friday's contest at the Delta Center.

The Oilers are 11-2-1 this season they allow three goals or less, and coupled with their strong commitment to defending and special teams improvements over recent games, they're hoping this road trip after a long break will be when things finally start to click.

"I think consistency is something almost every team in the league struggles with at some point during a season," Hyman said. "Everybody goes out there and you try to make the right play and you try to do all the right things. When things are going in, it's probably easier to be consistent because the little things go unnoticed. But I think for our group, there are times where we play really well, and I think five on five we've been pretty good this year.

"The puck hasn't necessarily gone in for us at the same rate that we're used to, but I think we've been pretty solid. I think on special teams, we're starting to come, and there's a lot of room for improvement there.

"No, we're in a fine position," Draisaitl added. "Not exactly where we want to be, but we're certainly in striking distance of where we want to be. It's just a matter of stringing them together a little bit and finding a couple of win streaks that last a little longer than two games. That's our plan and what we're looking to do."