Golden Knights at Oilers preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (10-5-1) at OILERS (6-9-2)
9 p.m. ET; SNW, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV

The Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Arenas each started 11-6-0 in 1917-18, the NHL's first season.
However, the Golden Knights are 2-4-1 in their past seven games after an 8-1-0 start.
The Oilers are on a two-game losing streak (0-1-1) after going 3-1-0 in their previous four games and 3-6-0 at home.

Players to watch

Forward Leon Draisaitl has four goals in his past seven games. His 12 points (five goals, seven assists) are tied with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for second on the Oilers behind Connor McDavid's 19.
Forward David Perron leads the Golden Knights with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) and has a four-game point streak (1-5-6).

They said it

"We're in a situation where we are on goalies four and five now, which is something I've never gone through before. But it's the reality and we're going to keep trying to get points and keep getting wins until we get [Marc-Andre Fleury] and [Malcolm Subban] back." -- Golden Knights forward David Perron on injuries to Vegas' top three goalies
"It's pretty special what they're doing right now. They have a very competitive group over there, which a lot of people forget at times. All these guys have played in the League for a while and they're all good players. It's cool to see how they got together and had such a good start." -- Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl on the Golden Knights

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
David Perron -- Erik Haula -- James Neal
Oscar Lindberg -- Cody Eakin -- Alex Tuch
William Carrier -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Tomas Nosek
Nate Schmidt -- Jon Merrill
Brayden McNabb -- Deryk Engelland
Colin Miller -- Brad Hunt
Maxime Lagace
Dylan Ferguson
Scratched: Brendan Leipsic, Shea Theodore
Injured: Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion), Malcolm Subban (lower body), Oscar Dansk (lower body), Clayton Stoner (abdomen), Luca Sbisa (undisclosed)

Oilers projected lineup

Pat Maroon -- Connor McDavid -- Leon Draisaitl
Milan Lucic -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Jujhar Khaira -- Ryan Strome -- Iiro Pakarinen
Brad Malone -- Mark Letestu -- Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom -- Matt Benning
Kris Russell -- Yohann Auvitu
Cam Talbot
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Jussi Jokinen, Eric Gryba
Injured: Andrej Sekera (knee), Anton Slepyshev (groin), Drake Caggiula (foot)

Status report

Merrill, a healthy scratch the past five games, will replace Sbisa. ... Jokinen will be a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.

Stat pack

The Golden Knights have eight players with at least four goals, tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for most in the NHL. ... The Oilers are 5-4-0 in their first games against expansion teams.