PREVIEW: Oilers at Rangers

The Edmonton Oilers close out their four-game road trip at Madison Square Garden on Sunday against the New York Rangers.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 5:00 pm MDT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

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NEW YORK, NY – Closing time in the City That Never Sleeps.

The Edmonton Oilers will close out their four-game road trip against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night after they came up with a huge 2-1 victory in overtime on Long Island two nights earlier to snap their two-game losing streak.

The Oilers beat the Rangers 6-2 earlier this season at Rogers Place on Nov. 23 and have points in nine of their last 11 meetings, going 8-2-1 in that span and 4-1-0 in their last five games under the famous roof of MSG in Midtown Manhattan.

Over on Long Island on Friday, Leon Draisaitl scored his 49^th goal of the season in overtime before pointing down the ice to his goaltender after Calvin Pickard helped him reach 100 points by starting the winning sequence at the other end with a heads-up play in sudden death.

Pickard quickly moved the puck to Connor McDavid from his own crease without skipping a beat before Draisaitl was sprung on a breakaway that the German buried far side on netminder Ilya Sorokin to cap off an exciting overtime period at UBS Arena.

Pickard set a new career high for wins with his 16^th victory that saw him provide some steady goalkeeping by making 24 stops and supplying one of the game-winning assists – the fourth of his career and first as an Oiler.

Along with saying that he gives the Oilers a shot to win every night when he’s between the pipes, Draisaitl called Pickard the ‘heart and soul’ of the team and added there’s a lot in his game that’s underappreciated.

“His effort, his performance, and his pass. He started the whole play. It was great,” Draisaitl said. “His hockey sense goes unnoticed by a lot of people, but that's elite hockey sense right there. He was obviously amazing all night.

"Huge compliment from a superstar," Pickard responded. "You guys see him on the ice, but he's an even better friend."

Draisaitl is one goal shy of his fourth career 50-goal season and holds an impressive 12-goal lead over Toronto’s William Nylander in the NHL’s goalscoring race, while his two goals on Friday extended his career-best point streak to 17 games (13G, 12A).

With a point against the Rangers, he would set the new longest point streak in the NHL this season after tying Boston’s David Pastrnak for the longest streak at 17, becoming the sixth different Oiler to reach the mark with Wayne Gretzky (9), McDavid (2), Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson.

No. 29 thanked his teammates for their support in reaching 100 points for the sixth time in his career but was just happy to see two points in the bank for the Oilers, who’ve played five straight one-goal games and struggled to find results in recent games after scoring three goals or less in 10 of their last 11 games (3-8-0).

“Obviously, we've been struggling and we've been struggling to score,” he said. “We've been struggling to defend hard and put points in the bank, and I thought for the most part tonight we were really good.”

Connor McDavid assisted Draisaitl’s decisive winner and is enjoying a 10-game assist streak and point streak of two goals and 12 assists, while another helper for Evan Bouchard gives him a seven-game point streak of four goals and four assists.

The Rangers come into Sunday's matchup on the second of back-to-back games after blanking the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 to take over the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. It was their eighth shutout of the season, which leads the NHL along with their eight back-to-backs since Jan. 1.

Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to eight games (6G, 6A), and two goals for Vincent Trocheck gives the centre 20 goals on the season. Trocheck’s second goal was the 14th shorthanded goal by New York this season, which leads the NHL as well.

Following Igor Shesterkin's 21-save shutout, Edmonton is expected to face Jonathan Quick in the second of the back-to-back where the Rangers are 5-1-1 since the start of 2025. Quick owns the most wins against the Oilers among active NHL goalies and a 25-13-6 record (2.27 GAA, .918 SV%, 4 SO) against them.