Back home from a middling road trip, the Edmonton Oilers must find a way to consistently stay sharp.
Especially against the Montreal Canadiens, who are playing their best hockey in an otherwise disappointing season.
The Oilers, though, will aim for a fourth consecutive victory over the visiting Canadiens on Saturday.
Edmonton is in the mix for a playoff spot in the competitive Western Conference, but knew it needed to fare better on a 2-2-1 road stretch it completed by rallying to salvage a point with Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss at Chicago. The Oilers are 2-3-1 since winning five straight from Feb. 11-19.
“There’s a lot to build off from this road trip,” defenseman Darnell Nurse told the Oilers’ official website. “A lot of good hockey was played, but we didn’t get the amount of points and amount of wins that we wanted.
“We go home, reset…And get right back at it.”
Edmonton has lost three of five at home, most recently 7-3 to Minnesota on Feb. 20. The Oilers have won three straight over the Canadiens, all on the road, including 7-2 on Jan. 29, but have dropped three of the last four meetings in Edmonton.
Evander Kane, who scored twice at Chicago, had a goal in the Oilers’ January win over Montreal. Leon Draisaitl also registered two goals at Montreal and increased his season total to 38 with one on Thursday.
Draisaitl has five goals with eight assists over a nine-game stretch. He’s posted three with four assists in the last four against the Canadiens.
Teammate Mikko Koskinen has a 2.31 goals-against average while facing 118 shots during his current 2-0-1 stretch. Backup Mike Smith’s posted a 4.63 GAA during his three-start losing streak.
Meanwhile, Montreal enters a winner in six of seven games. After its five-game winning streak ended with a wild 8-4 loss at Winnipeg on Tuesday, the Canadiens rallied from a two-goal hole for an impressive 5-4 overtime victory over Pacific Division-leading Calgary on Thursday. Though Montreal has an Eastern Conference-low 35 points, it’s won six of 10 since Martin St. Louis took over behind the bench and is 2-1-0 to start its five-game road trip.
“(Beating Calgary is) a big one for the confidence of the team, knowing we can play with anybody,” defenseman Ben Chiarot, who scored his second goal of the game 1:03 into overtime to go along with an assist, told the NHL’s official website.
“That’s a big one for the character of the team.”
In addition to Chiarot’s big night, Mike Hoffman had a goal with three assists and All-Star Nick Suzuki recorded one with two assists. Suzuki has three goals and six assists in six games, and two goals with an assist in his last two versus Edmonton.
Andrew Hammond, meanwhile, has a 2.26 goals-against average while winning his first three starts since Minnesota traded him to Montreal on Feb. 12. Teammate Sam Montembeault was pulled after allowing six goals on 16 shots faced against the Oilers in January. He saw an early exit after yielding seven on 23 shots over nearly 45 1/2 minutes at Winnipeg this week.
–Field Level Mean