PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Coyotes

The Edmonton Oilers begin back-to-back games at Rogers Place this weekend on Friday night against the Arizona Coyotes.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet West at 7:00 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Coyotes

EDMONTON, AB – Without their captain in the lineup, the Oilers were too much to handle for the Golden Knights on Wednesday, dispatching their Pacific Division rivals with a complete and composed performance in a 5-1 victory.

The Blue & Orange now look to carry Wednesday’s success into the start of a back-to-back on Friday against the Coyotes, hoping to make up more ground on the Canucks for first place in the division and claim their first division title since 1986-87 when the franchise hoisted its third Stanley Cup.

“That was a solid, complete game for us coming off the other night where we didn't have our ‘A’ game, but we found a way to win,” Corey Perry said of Wednesday’s victory. “I thought tonight, playing a really good hockey team, we put all 60 minutes together and you can see what kind of team we are when we do that.”

The win was the Blue & Orange’s sixth straight on home ice and improved their record to 10-0-1 over their last 11 games at Rogers Place – a terrific run on home ice that’s been made possible by averaging a league-best goals per game (4.91) and the second-best goals against (1.82) on home ice since Feb. 29.

Edmonton is keen to continue their strong run to conclude the regular season against Arizona – a club they've dominated over their last 22 meetings with a 17-3-2 record and seven straight head-to-head wins dating back to Oct. 21, 2021.

“You've got to take care of your home ice," Perry said. “That's first and foremost. On the road it's a different game plan, but at home, we've put some solid games together lately and we're going to have to continue to do that."

Connor McDavid sat out Wednesday's contest against Vegas with a lower-body injury he sustained in the Battle of Alberta this past Saturday, and while you can’t completely replace McDavid’s impact influence, his Oilers teammates rose to the occasion and turned in one of their best collective performances of the campaign on both sides of the puck.

"I think when you're missing the best player in the world, you don't try to replace him," Zach Hyman said. "I think everybody just as a group collectively has to step up and play better, and I thought it was one of our better games of the season."

“It's amazing when you're connected how much faster you look as a team. When you're not thinking and have five guys on the same page, the game just seems easier and it looks faster from the outside, so I just thought we were a connected group today."

The Oilers limited the Golden Knights to 17 shots and only a single goal from Keegan Kolesar that wound up as consolation for Vegas in a one-sided affair at Rogers Place that saw Edmonton receive offensive and defensive contributions from plenty of different players.

Cody Ceci and Mattias Ekholm chipped in with goals from the back end, with the Swede setting a new career-high for goals with his 11th of the season in the second period. Ekholm now has 18 points (7G, 11A) over his last 14 games and has been nearly unplayable for the opposition alongside Evan Bouchard, who’s combined with his defence partner to produce the most points (37) of any D pairing since Mar. 10.

During that span, Edmonton’s opposition on Friday night in the Coyotes has managed to produce only 20 combined points from its entire D corps.

"Phenomenal," Hyman said of Ekholm’s impact. "I think for the past month he's been one of the best D-men in the league. I think that's pretty much what he's been. He's been unbelievable for a while here now, so I think he's a guy who's actually underrated. If you talk about the best defenceman in the league, his name doesn't come up, but you can't ask for a better two-way defender. One of the hardest guys to play against.

“I played against him when he was in Nashville and was never fun to play against him, and offensively, he and Bouch have really found chemistry and are able to make plays.”

Hyman would pot his 53^rd goal of the year two-and-a-half minutes after Ekholm's tally to end a four-game goalless run – a lengthy one by the winger’s standards this season – before Leon Draisaitl powered home a power-play goal from his office to make it a four-goal game in the final frame.

Dylan Holloway, whose call-up was necessitated by McDavid’s injury, picked up a late goal with an incredible solo effort in his return to the NHL from a successful stint with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, scoring unassisted off a turnover by Hill behind the Vegas net to solidify the 5-1 win.

"When I got sent down, I tried to use it as an opportunity to just focus on my game, try and get as good as I can and focus on the little things that they want me to work on," Holloway said. "When I got called up, I was pretty excited and just tried to implement the things that I was working on in Bakersfield into my game today."

McDavid was seen in the tunnel of the Oilers dressing room after the game celebrating with his teammates as they came off the ice, so the break served its part for the Oilers and could turn out to be extra beneficial for the captain as the regular season creeps closer to its end.

‘He's not in a wheelchair. He doesn’t have a boot on or anything like that,” Knoblauch joked. “He is doing pretty good, and I think yesterday he enjoyed just being one of the guys and being able to just enjoy the game and not have pressure on him. He was able to cheer on his teammates and participate in the celebration after the game. I think he enjoyed it.

“Obviously he'd rather be on the ice, but I think this little time away will help him reset, get fully rested and be ready to go.”

Coach Knoblauch confirmed that McDavid’s status remains questionable for Friday’s meeting with Arizona and that if Wednesday was a playoff game, he would’ve suited up. But with time on their side to rest their captain before the playoffs, the Oilers and McDavid are happy to take what’s offered to them before the business end of their season.

“Anytime we have a chance to get him in the lineup, I don't think we have to worry about pulling him out or him losing his spot,” Knoblauch said. “Some guys might, but I liked the way that we responded. I liked how we played. But if he's ready to play, he's coming back in.

“I think just the biggest picture moving forward is his health and that he’s 100 percent ready and good to go when playoffs start, because that's when it's most important.”

McDavid isn’t the only player who’s questionable for Friday's start to a back-to-back for Edmonton after Knoblauch updated the status of some players nursing a few bumps and bruises.

McDavid, Cody Ceci and Sam Carrick weren’t on the ice for Thursday’s full practice at Rogers Place, with Carrick being confirmed as day-to-day and out by the bench boss for their matchup with the Cotes after being involed in a collision during the Vegas game.

Ceci took a maintenance day on Thursday and while he could potentially dress against Arizona on Friday, the Oilers coaching staff could take a similar approach to their captain and have the defenceman sit out in favour of awarding ice time to Troy Stecher against his former team.

“He definitely could have been on the ice and we’ll decide tomorrow if he's going to play or not,” Knoblauch said of Ceci. “Obviously we've got Stech, who we want to get back in the lineup. We're playing back-to-back. We kind of planned that he was going to play one of the three games, so tomorrow might be a good opportunity for him to play.”

Arizona went 0-for-5 on the power play on Wednesday against the Canucks but were still able to help out the Oilers in their race for the Pacific Division crown, defeating Vancouver 4-3 in the shootout on Wednesday despite coughing up a two-goal lead in the third period.

The Coyotes have won three of their last four games and own a winning record since the start of March, going 11-9-0, but they'll be leaning on their youth for the remainder of the season and into the future after another season without playoffs.

Clayton Keller has nine points (5G, 4A) over his last six games against the Oilers and leads the NHL for goals from players 25 or younger this season with 33 tucks while owning the Arizona scoring lead with 73 points in 75 games.

Logan Cooley, Arizona's third-overall pick in 2022, has caught fire down the stretch with nine points (6G, 3A) over his last seven games and needs one more goal this season to reach the 20-goal mark, which would put him on an exclusive list with Chicago's Connor Bedard as the only players aged 19 or younger to have 20 goals this season.