Edmonton @ Winnipeg preview
Canada Life Centre
Last Meeting ( Oct 21, 2023 ) Winnipeg 3, Edmonton 2
The Edmonton Oilers might be playing their best hockey of the young season.
Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves amid a rare rough patch.
The Oilers can win a season-high fourth straight game by handing the host Jets a third consecutive loss Thursday night.
It's been a rough start for Edmonton, which has eight wins in 21 games and has already fired coach Jay Woodcroft. However, since Nov. 11, the Oilers are 6-3-0, with five of those victories coming under current coach Kris Knoblauch.
Following Tuesday's 5-4 shootout home victory over Vegas, Edmonton has outscored its opponents 18-6 during the club's second three-game winning streak this month.
"We'll take wins any way we can get them at this point," said Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, who has four goals and 11 assists during his current five-game point streak.
"Definitely there is momentum in our room. I think we can feel it. I think what we have seen out of our last three (games), and it's something to build off of."
While looking to stay hot Thursday, the Oilers are also trying to win back-to-back road games for the first time this season. Edmonton is just 3-8-0 on the road but won 5-0 at Washington on Friday in its most recent away contest.
However, the Oilers have lost four of their last five trips to Winnipeg, including the postseason. McDavid assisted on first-period goals by Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard, but Edmonton failed to hold that 2-0 en route to a 3-2 overtime home loss to the Jets on Oct. 21.
Mark Scheifele scored the overtime winner in that contest for Winnipeg. A victory that kick-started an 11-2-2 stretch the Jets went on before losing their last two games -- at Nashville and versus Dallas.
Winnipeg threw 27 shots at Dallas' Jake Oettinger on Tuesday but had nothing to show in a 2-0 loss. The Jets have yet to lose three straight in regulation this season.
"We've got to stick to the process," said Scheifele, who's recorded just one of his 23 points in the last three games.
"Not everything is going to be sunshine and rainbows. There's going to be tough stretches. There's going to be tough games. Just got to keep truckin'."
Scheifele has a goal in three straight games against the Oilers. Meanwhile, teammate Connor Hellebuyck, who owns a 1.50 goals-against average and .948 save percentage in his last four starts, stopped 38 shots at Edmonton in October.
McDavid has totaled 12 goals and 41 assists in 30 regular-season games against the Jets, while Bouchard has two goals and seven assists during his seven-game overall point streak.
Fellow Oiler Evander Kane has a goal in three straight games, but the former Jet has gone without a point in the last four against his former team.
Meanwhile, Edmonton's Stuart Skinner stopped 23 of 27 shots Tuesday and has a 1.96 goals-against average during his three-start winning streak. Current Oilers backup Calvin Pickard has allowed five goals on 46 shots faced in his two appearances since being recalled from AHL -- after Jack Campbell was sent down on Nov. 8.
--Field Level Media