PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Ducks

The Edmonton Oilers will begin 2025 with a rematch against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday at Rogers Place before they wrap up back-to-back games on Saturday in Seattle.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Anaheim

EDMONTON, AB – As the calendar turns to 2025, the Edmonton Oilers are feeling good about their game as they begin a busy stretch over the next two weeks with a rematch against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at Rogers Place.

“I think we've been playing some really good hockey,” said Leon Draisaitl, the NHL’s Second Star of the Month with a 12-game point streak of 10 goals and 14 assists in December.

“Obviously, the two-game road trip in California wasn’t our best, but we adjusted and had a really good game against Utah, so I’m happy with how we've been playing and we’re looking to keep that up.”

The Oilers responded to back-to-back defeats against Los Angeles and Anaheim last weekend with a 4-1 victory over Utah Hockey Club on New Year’s Eve, finishing the month 9-3-1 and concluding the 2024 portion of this year’s schedule with a 22-12-3 record to sit third place in the Pacific Division.

Draisaitl notched his league-leading 27th goal of the season into an empty net late in regulation after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Troy Stecher scored 20 seconds apart in the second period to break a 1-1 tie with Utah.

The German leads the NHL in goals (27), even-strength goals (20), game-winning goals (8) and sits second overall in points (56) through 37 games, having just tied Glenn Anderson for the fifth-most points in Oilers franchise history (906).

“When you're producing offensively, I find sometimes that thinking less about it almost is [better],” he said. “You get on these streaks where you're just playing and trying to do the right things every time you're on the ice.”

Connor McDavid assisted on Nugent-Hopkins and Stecher's second-period goals, matching Draisaitl’s point streak in December with a 12-game run of three goals and 20 assists that moved the Oilers captain past Mark Messier (1,036) for third all-time on Edmonton’s points list.

Defenceman Mattias Ekholm opened the scoring and added a helper, giving him six points (3G, 3A) over his last eight games, and winger Connor Brown continued his hot streak over his last nine matches (3G, 6A) by extending his points streak to five (5A) with an assist.

Brown ranks sixth in points on the Oilers this season despite averaging just 13:30 time on ice, while Ekholm's been on the ice for 49 even-strength goals, tied for the most among NHL defencemen with Vancouver's Quinn Hughes as he continues to improve on his +85 plus/minus as a member of the Oilers.

Following the strong showing against Utah, the Oilers will be looking for revenge against the Ducks after they were handed a 5-3 defeat this past Sunday to put an end to their seven-game winning streak against their Pacific Division rivals.

“They're a good team,” Ekholm said. “They work hard and they have some skill up front, so we obviously need to rebound from that game. But last game, we played a better brand of hockey. We came out of the break, and it was a back-to-back – not to find any excuses, but hopefully now with a couple of days rest, we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

Starting on Friday night, the Oilers will play nine games over the next 16 days, including two back-to-backs that start this weekend with home-and-away matches versus Anaheim and Seattle. Edmonton’s tied for the fewest road games played this season (16) with seven other teams on a list that includes Friday’s opponents in the Ducks, who came back with four unanswered goals over the final two periods last Sunday in Anaheim to steal a victory.

After facing the Ducks, the Oilers will begin a four-game, coast-to-coast road trip in Seattle on Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena that will take them all the way to Boston before making their way back to Oil Country with games against Pittsburgh and Chicago later in the week.

Edmonton then hosts Los Angeles in a one-off homestand on Jan. 13 before embarking on a three-game road trip over the next five days – with the first two matches in Minnesota and Colorado coming on back-to-back nights.

“You're making me tired just thinking about it right now,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch joked following Thursday’s high-tempo practice at Rogers Place.

Luckily for the Oilers, the holiday break came at the right time to give some of their players some extra rest before a busy run through January that will continue until the NHL breaks for the 4 Nations Face-Off in early February. The time off for the Oilers certainly showed its benefit during Thursday’s practice, where the pace was high along with the spirits of everyone on the ice after returning from their New Year’s Eve victory.

Coach Knoblauch said it bodes well for the group moving forward as they try to manage practice time and minutes played for all of its skaters over this upcoming busy stretch of games.

“I think everyone enjoyed the day off coming off a win,” Knoblauch said. “Especially when you have older teams, it takes a little bit longer. You’d think a break is good for older players, but I find it's often it's the younger guys who recover after a long break, and the older guys just need to be on the ice more regularly to feel the puck and not have long, strenuous practices.

“I think that break was tougher on some of the guys, and right now, we're in a really good spot coming off a win, having the day off, and we’re just excited for tomorrow.”

Knoblauch is feeling strongly about his forward group heading into the busy stretch after making alterations to each line before facing Utah, but the bench boss is expected to make a few more changes before facing Anaheim after seeing the practice combinations during Thursday’s practice.

Connor Brown remained alongside Connor McDavid on the top line, but instead of Zach Hyman completing the trio on the left side as he did on New Year’s Eve, the two former Erie Otters were joined by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Hyman skated on the left side with Mattias Janmark and Kasperi Kapanen in a move by Coach Knoblauch to help spread out the scoring, giving the Oilers a hot hand on each of their first three lines to begin Friday’s date with the Ducks. The Dynamic Duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are riding 12-game point streaks, with Hyman's 10 goals during December tying Draisaitl and four others in the NHL for the most goals last month.

Entering their busy stretch of the new year, Coach Knoblauch said dropping Hyman to the third line is just the latest change they’re prepared to make to try and get the most out of his team, while Hyman’s time on the top line is far from over.

“There's definitely going to be a time that Zach's back on the top line,” Knoblauch said. I think he's a top-line guy, and right now, it helps our team with spreading out the scoring. It also allows Brownie to get a reward for playing really well.

“How long it goes for, that’ll depend on how the team does. Are we winning games? Does Brown continue to play at that level he's playing at? Zach will be there at some point, but that's up to so many other factors.”

Knoblauch confirmed that both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard will split the upcoming back-to-back, with Skinner confirmed to be getting the start on Friday against Anaheim.