PREVIEW: Oilers at Coyotes

The Edmonton Oilers begin a back-to-back in the desert at Mullett Arena on Wednesday night against the Arizona Coyotes.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Coyotes

TEMPE, AZ – Is this the last dance in the desert?

In what could be the Coyotes’ final game in Arizona before moving to Utah, the Oilers will play their first of back-to-back road games to close out the regular season on Wednesday night at Mullett Arena.

The Oilers have won seven of their last 11 games (7-2-2) and will want to continue building momentum heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs after exploding for nine goals in a 9-2 victory over the Sharks in their final home game at Rogers Place.

Nine separate players recorded multiple points in the victory, including Connor McDavid, who made his return from a lower-body injury and picked up his 100^th assist of the season to go along with the opening goal just 53 seconds into regulation.

Edmonton’s scoring was spread across the scoresheet on Monday, with Dylan Holloway recording the first three-point game of his career and Evan Bouchard becoming the first Oilers defenceman with 80 points since 1986 when Paul Coffey did it for the fifth season in a row. Warren Foegele scored twice to come within one goal of his first career 20-goal season and both Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman inched closer to personal milestones, needing a point each to hit 700 and 400 career points respectively.

"I thought everyone played a really good game," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "It's nice to see those guys get rewarded with some offence... I thought our team skated really well and played with a lot of speed, but we're happy that Connor hit that milestone. That's the biggest thing, but it's nice to see those depth guys get some offence too."

McDavid became just the fourth different player in NHL history to record 100 assists in a season when he set up Hyman’s 54^th goal of the year in the second period. The captain even attested post-game that it’s a meaningful milestone for himself, and the reaction from the crowd at Rogers Place and his teammates on the Oilers bench was a great exhale on an excellent night for the Blue & Orange.

“It always sets in when you hear the crowd and you hear the support from the fans and the reaction from your teammates,” McDavid said. “To see the reception from my teammates and that's when it sets in.”

Milestones aside, McDavid mentioned it was an important victory despite facing a team well below them in the standings as they build up their game before the postseason. The Oilers are officially locked into second place in the Pacific after the Canucks defeated the Flames 4-1 on Tuesday to clinch top spot in the division.

“Of course [playoffs are priority], and they were even tonight,” McDavid said. “I like that we did things the right way. I didn't think guys were cheating. I didn't think guys were getting above pucks or flying by or doing any of that stuff. We gave up two goals, but I liked a lot of things about our game.”

Nugent-Hopkins echoed his captain’s words: “We know we're two away here from the real deal, so we’ve got to prepare the right way and that's mentally and physically.

“When you get up a few, it's easy to kind of stray away from your game and just kind of mosey on through. But I thought we did a good job of having guys coming back, working for each other, playing the right way and building the right habits.”

With second place locked up and playoffs now firmly the focus, how to manage his team’s roster over their final two games will be top of mind for Head Coach Kris Knoblauch.

McDavid just returned from a three-game absence with a lower-body injury and it’s not certain he’ll play the remaining two matches, while Evander Kane was also kept out of the lineup against San Jose on Monday for maintenance reasons.

A number of high ice-time individuals on the Oilers roster – notably on the blueline – could potentially benefit from a breather in one or even both games against Arizona and Colorado on Wednesday and Thursday.

Knoblauch said the state of the Pacific Division title race would play a factor in what they do, but that’s been settled after Vancouver’s victory over Calgary last night.

“We're going to wait and see and make that decision tomorrow after Vancouver's game,” he said post-game on Monday. “If Vancouver wins, it's really easy for us to take guys out because those games don't mean anything.”

Rotation looks a near certainty on the Oilers’ blueline starting on Wednesday following yesterday's recall of Philip Broberg from the Bakersfield Condors, who along with Troy Stecher gives the Oilers a seventh and eighth defenceman on the roster to work into the lineup.

Broberg has enjoyed a strong third professional season with the Condors, posting the sixth-best points per game among all AHL D-men who’ve played 20 games this season with 35 points (five goals) in 48 contests along with 10 NHL games earlier this season.

Prior to his call-up, Broberg scored his third goal in as many games with the overtime winner against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Friday to make it 11 points in his last six contests for the 22-year-old from Sweden.