Anderson, McDavid CBJ EDM

OILERS (8-4-1) at BLUE JACKETS (5-4-2)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-O, SN-1, SN360, NHL.TV

The Oilers are 1-3-1 in their past five games after a 7-1-0 start, including losing their past two games by a combined score of 9-3.
The Blue Jackets were 4-0-2 in six games prior to a 7-4 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Players to watch

Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past three games. He needs one assist for 200 in the NHL.
Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones has four points (one goal, three assists) in a four-game point streak.

They said it

"Right from the drop of the puck we need to play with a little bit of fire, especially in that first period because we always get off to a slow start."-- Oilers forward Zack Kassian
"That was our first bad game in a really long time. I'm not going to overthink it, over-analyze it. You just move past it. That's not characteristic of who we are, and we'll make sure we'll come out with a real good effort." -- Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno on responding to the loss to the Flyers

Oilers projected lineup
Blue Jackets projected lineup
Status report

Smith starts after Koskinen played Tuesday. … Oilers coach Dave Tippett said Wednesday that several injured players could return to the lineup. … Nutivaara returns after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Murray and Texier were injured against the Flyers.

Stat pack

McDavid has five points (one goal, four assists) in a three-game point streak. … Nugent-Hopkins has not scored in six games. … The Oilers are 5-0-0 when scoring first. … The Blue Jackets are 5-1-2 in games decided by one goal and 5-0-0 when scoring first. … Jenner has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past four games. … Dubois has five goals in his past eight games. … Bjorkstrand needs one point for 100 in the NHL. … Korpisalo plays his 100th NHL game. … Nash is one assist shy of 100 in the NHL.