Oilers at Canucks preview

OILERS (18-12-3) at CANUCKS (15-16-4)
10 p.m. ET; SNP, SNW, NHL.TV

The Oilers are 5-0-1 in their past six games, 8-1-1 in the past 10, and 9-2-2 since coach Ken Hitchcock replaced Todd McLellan on Nov. 20.
Edmonton center Connor McDavid will look to extend his point streak to nine games; he has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in an eight-game point streak and needs two assists for 200 in the NHL.
Goalie Jacob Markstrom, who has a .942 save percentage during a four-game win streak, starts on back-to-back nights after making 31 saves in a 5-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Vancouver is 4-0-1 in its past five games after going 1-10-2 in the previous 13.

Players to watch

Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen, who will start, is 7-1-1 with 1.77 goals-against average, .940 save percentage and two shutouts in his past nine starts.
Canucks center Elias Pettersson has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in a six-game point streak and leads the team and NHL rookies with 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists) in 29 games.

They said it

"It's been really good for everyone, not just me. He's gotten guys to elevate their game. We are finding a way to get timely scoring and goals from different lines, we're solid defensively and we've had good goaltending. When you have that combination, good things are going to happen." -- Oilers center Connor McDavid on the record under new coach Ken Hitchcock
"We've been doing a good job, but we can't sit back and relax and be happy about that. We've got to re-charge the batteries and be as sharp next game too." -- Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom

Oilers projected lineup

Leon Draisaitl -- Connor McDavid -- Alex Chiasson
Jujhar Khaira -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Milan Lucic -- Kyle Brodziak -- Zack Kassian
Drake Caggiula -- Ryan Spooner -- Tobias Rieder
Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson
Jason Garrison -- Matt Benning
Kevin Gravel -- Caleb Jones
Mikko Koskinen
Cam Talbot
Scratched:Chris Wideman, Valentin Zykov, Ty Rattie
Injured: Andrej Sekera (Achilles), Oscar Klefbom (hand), Kris Russell (undisclosed)

Canucks projected lineup

Nikolay Goldobin -- Bo Horvat -- Jake Virtanen
Josh Leivo -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Loui Eriksson
Markus Granlund -- Jay Beagle -- Tyler Motte
Alexander Edler -- Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton -- Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot -- Alex Biega
Jacob Markstrom
Anders Nilsson
Scratched: Tim Schaller, Michael Del Zotto
Injured: Erik Gudbranson (back spasms), Brandon Sutter (shoulder), Sven Baertschi (concussion)

Status report

It will be the fourth start in the past five games for Koskinen, who is 11-3-1 with a .930 save percentage this season. ... Gudbranson, who has missed two games, is a game-time decision for the second straight day.

Stat pack

The Oilers have scored at least four goals in four of their past five games. … Draisaitl has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in his past five games. … Horvat has eight points (four goals, three assists) in his past eight games.