Flames at Oilers preview

Edmonton, which is playing its first game following its League-mandated break prior to the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Game, has won two straight games and is 6-1-1 in its past eight.

David Rittich will start for Calgary, which is coming off a 5-4 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and is 1-2-1 in its past four games.

The Flames won the first two games against the Oilers this season and lead them by one point for second place in the Pacific Division.

Players to watch

Flames forward Elias Lindholm has four points (three goals, one assist) in two games against Edmonton this season.  

Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in an eight-game point streak. 

They said it

"This is a building we had success in earlier, last month (5-1 win on Dec. 27), and if we play the same way we did then, I like our chances because we came in here last time and played a really smart game and we took away their two top guys (Connor McDavid, Draisaitl) as well as we maybe could have." -- Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk 

"It's fun when you're playing for something and we're playing for keeps right now. Every point matters right now, and that's what we're concerned about in here." -- Oilers goalie Mike Smith 

Flames projected lineup 

Andrew Mangiapane -- Elias Lindholm -- Matthew Tkachuk 

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Buddy Robinson 

Sam Bennett -- Mikael Backlund -- Tobias Rieder

Milan Lucic -- Derek Ryan -- Zac Rinaldo 

Mark Giordano -- Rasmus Andersson

Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic 

Oliver Kylington -- TJ Brodie 

David Rittich 

Cam Talbot 

Scratched: Michael Stone, Mark Jankowski, Dillon Dube

Injured: None

Oilers projected lineup

James Neal -- Connor McDavid -- Zack Kassian 

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kailer Yamamoto 

Joakim Nygard -- Riley Sheahan -- Alex Chiasson 

Jujhar Khaira -- Gaetan Haas -- Josh Archibald

Oscar Klefbom -- Ethan Bear 

Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson 

Kris Russell -- Matt Benning  

Mike Smith 

Mikko Koskinen 

Scratched: Patrick Russell, Sam Gagner, Caleb Jones   

Injured: None

Status report

Kassian will return from a two-game suspension for serving as the aggressor in an altercation with Tkachuk in a 4-3 loss to the Flames on Jan. 11. … Rinaldo will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past three games. … Rieder will play after being a healthy scratch against St. Louis. …. Benning will return to the lineup after missing the past 20 games because of a head injury. … Smith will face his former team for the first time since signing with Edmonton as an unrestricted free agent on July 1. 

Stat pack

McDavid has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in a six-game point streak. … Nugent-Hopkins has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in his past eight games. … Monahan scored twice against the Blues after going his previous seven games without a goal.