PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Utah

The Edmonton Oilers return home to Rogers Place on Tuesday night to wrap up their season series with Utah Hockey Club.

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

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EDMONTON, AB – The playoff race is really starting to heat up.

You can feel the implications of each result at this time of the season and Tuesday's visit from Utah Hockey Club to Rogers Place for their third and final meeting with the Edmonton Oilers won’t be any different as both teams look to pick up two valuable points at the expense of the other’s own playoff chase.

The Oilers won each of the two previous meetings with Utah this season, rallying from two goals down to win 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 29 thanks to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ winner during their inaugural visit to Salt Lake City before winning 4-1 on New Year’s Eve in Edmonton after receiving multi-point nights from Mattias Ekholm (1G, 1A), Connor Brown (2A) and McDavid (2A) and 26 saves from Stuart Skinner.

The Oilers have won nine of their last 11 home games against Western Conference opponents, with each of their remaining eight home games – along with all seven of their road games still to be played – set to come against Western opposition as the playoff race reaches its climax over the next month.

Edmonton grinded out a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden to finish their four-game road trip 2-2, picking up four of a possible eight points to get past the Los Angeles Kings for second in the Pacific Division while leaving themselves four points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for top spot.

Sitting tied at 1-1 with the Rangers through 40 minutes, Viktor Arvidsson and Connor McDavid scored in the third period before Stuart Skinner locked it down in the crease with a couple important stops – including on the penalty kill that finished 3-for-3 on the night – and his teammates helping close out the victory by sacrificing their bodies by making a number of blocked shots.

“I felt good. I felt calm in there,” Skinner said. “I felt like I made saves when I needed to. The guys obviously played really well in front of me and especially at the end there, where we were six-on-five. Even with a few seconds ago we were still blocking shots, so that's a huge credit to the guys.”

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said it took a lot of character from his team to come up with the victory in a tough match with the Rangers, and it provided a lot of building blocks for them to push forward into the final 15 games of the regular season after admittedly not having their best game overall since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off.

“Arvidsson with that shot down the wall, that was a great play by him; then obviously, Connor’s for some insurance,” Knoblauch said. “But probably the story in the third period was how many blocked shots we had. Skinner, Podkolzin and Walman had I think five or six tonight. It was just a lot of guys digging in and doing the right thing.”

“Since [Florida], I think we've been building our game up because I think we were rock bottom those three games after the break. But since then, I think we've been getting better. There's still room for improvement. There are things that we can get better at, but it's been a gradual climb and that's what we want. We just want to get better.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three assists in a terrific performance alongside his linemates Arvidsson and Podkolzin and has five points (0G, 5A) over his last six games as he tries to find more offensive contributions while being relied upon as the pivot on the third line. In addition to being able to move to the wing, the longest-tenured Oiler is a vital piece of this roster regardless of his offence, but both player and coach know he's got more to give in that area.

Sunday was a great showing by No. 93, who has now surpassed the 40-point plateau in 11 of his 14 seasons after recording his ninth multi-point game of the campaign in New York.

“Ryan had a strong game and he's playing centre,” Knoblauch said. “Ryan's a little disappointed with his scoring, but when a player like him can play centre, it's about good touches the puck. You just feel like you're involved in the play a lot more, and I think about his games this year and probably his stronger games have been playing centre.

“Tonight besides a couple shifts playing left wing, pretty much all was at centre and another solid game from him.”

Another assist for Leon Draisaitl on Corey Perry's power-play goal in the first period pushed the German's incredible career-best point streak to 18 games, which is the longest in the NHL this season after passing Boston’s David Pastrnak (17).

Draisaitl became the fourth different Oilers player with a point streak of at least 18 games, which is also tied for the fourth longest in NHL history by a player born outside of North America. Sitting on 49 goals and 101 points, No. 29 needs one goal to reach 50 for the fourth time in his career (2018-19, 2021-22, 2022-23).

Connor McDavid scored his 25th goal on Sunday and tied Draisaitl as the fourth Oilers player with nine consecutive 25-goal seasons. Alex Ovechkin is the only active player in the NHL currently with a longer streak than the Dynamic Duo.

Edmonton navigated their four-game road trip without the services of defencemen Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg, with Coach Knoblauch saying before Sunday's win over the Rangers that they hope to have Ekholm back in the lineup at the latest by Thursday's visit from the Winnipeg Jets.

Utah claimed their 30^th win of the season on Sunday in a 3-1 win over the Canucks that keeps them in the heat of the playoff race just two points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

Utah became the sixth inaugural team since the Expansion Era to win 30 games in a season and need four more to pass the 1993-94 Panthers and Ducks for the second-most wins (the Golden Knights had 51 in 2017-18).

Forward Logan Cooley ended a seven-game pointless drought against Vancouver with the winner 5:08 into the third period while Kevin Stenlund and Clayton Keller also added goals, and goaltender Karel Vejmelka – making his 10^th straight start for Utah – stopped 18 shots for the victory.

Utah will try to avoid being swept by the Oilers this regular season after winning all three games against the Canucks, who are one of the teams they’re battling with for the two available Wild Card spots in the West along with the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild.

Utah has been better on the road this season (.559) than at home (.500) and are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games despite having lost three of their last four games prior to their win over the Canucks.