PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Flames

The Edmonton Oilers visit the Calgary Flames in the Battle of Alberta on Wednesday at Scotiabank Saddledome before the start of the Olympic break.

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PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Flames

EDMONTON, AB – One last Battle before the break.

The Edmonton Oilers travel south to face the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night in the Battle of Alberta to close out a back-to-back in their final game before the NHL breaks for nearly three weeks in February for the Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

The Oilers will be looking to finish on a positive note at the expense of their provincial rivals after another Canadian opponent in the Toronto Maple Leafs came into Rogers Place last night and claimed a 5-2 victory to close out their lengthy eight-game homestand, which finished with a 4-4-0 record.

"We haven't been playing our best, and obviously, playing eight games in a row at home, you'd like to win more games, but that's how it is now, and we can't do anything about it," Kasperi Kapanen said. "We just need to go into Calgary tomorrow and try to win two big points."

"You want to have a better result than .500 at home, obviously," Darnell Nurse added. "There are adjustments that I think our team can make, and we had a. We have a big game against Calgary again tomorrow. We look forward to that, and we'll learn from this."

Toronto scored twice on the power play in 31 seconds after Matt Savoie and Mattias Janmark took penalties six seconds apart in the third period to put the Maple Leafs on an extended five-on-three, restoring their two-goal lead minutes after Kasperi Kapanen made it 2-2 with his fourth goal of the season.

Edmonton's penalty kill went 0-for-2 on Tuesday.

"We need to step up and get the kills, and we weren't able to do that," Darnell Nurse said. "That's the difference. At 2-2, everyone's trying to do the right thing, and we gotta keep chipping away at it and make sure it becomes a strong point for our team."

The Oilers outshot the Maple Leafs by a 36-27 margin, including 17 during the second period, but Anthony Stolarz was strong in goal with 34 saves.

"I feel like throughout the whole game, we had plenty of chances, and especially in the second period, I thought we were playing well," Kapanen said. "We honestly were the better team, and if you take a couple penalties and you give them a five-on-three for two minutes, they have such good players that you know it's probably going to end up in the back of the net."

The Oilers will face the Flames for the final time this season, with Calgary taking two of the previous three meetings, including a split in a home-and-away series between the two provincial rivals during the Holiday season in December.

Edmonton is 8-3-1 in its last 12 games against Calgary, outscoring them 38-29, and will face a Flames team that's lost six of its last seven games (1-4-2).

A win tonight would keep the Oilers tied atop the Pacific Division standings with the Vegas Golden Knights heading into the break, which would leave the Oilers in a good position to challenge for the title over the final month-and-a-half of the regular season when teams return at the end of February.

That serves as extra motivation for the Oilers to leave it all out there tonight, with their club owning one of the best records in the NHL this season coming off a loss (17-8-3). The Oilers have won just two of their nine games this season that have come in the second half of back-to-backs.

"Whether you're fighting for first place or fighting to get into the playoffs, urgency always ramps up," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We're at that point."