The Edmonton Oilers will try to claim their seventh straight victory on Wednesday night when they welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to Rogers Place.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet West & 360 or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin at 7:00 p.m. MT, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. CBJ
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Stuart Skinner
PRE-GAME RAW | Darnell Nurse
PRE-GAME RAW | Derek Ryan
RECENT VIDEOS
PRACTICE | Split Squad Day
RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft 01.24.23
RAW | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 01.24.23
Access Insurance Save of the Week
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Blue Jackets Statistics
Stats Comparison
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
BLOG: Oilers split fwds & D on Tuesday
BLOG: Hyman a model of consistency
GENE'S BLOG: Six Pack
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Wednesday's game on Sportsnet West & 360 at 7:30 PM MT.

INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from Oilers practice on Tuesday, where the team was split into forwards and defenceman on separate ice sheets for individual skills work.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - The Oilers enter Wednesday night's contest on quite a roll. The Blue & Orange have won six straight games and are looking to push that streak to seven against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
With a win over the Blue Jackets, the Oilers would have their second longest win streak in 35 years, trailing only a nine-game streak back in 2000-01.
It's been a full team effort to get on this run. After an early season plagued with inconsistencies the Oilers are enjoying the fruits of their labour as they've cut down the goals against, started killing more penalties, and are performing best when the game is being played five-on-five.
"I think I have a real sense of a lot of us guys just having a lot of fun with each other, having fun on the ice, where the way we're practicing hard, but we're also enjoying it," Stuart Skinner said about the stretch. "I think we're just having a good time right now."
"I think we've done a lot of work in terms of changing some things over the last couple of months. Obviously, power plays are really good in the league now, so it's a challenge every night," Derek Ryan said about the Oilers resurgent PK. "I think the biggest thing is just consistency. I think we've seen spots where we're doing really well on the PK and we're pressing the way we want to, and then there's other times we're a little disjointed and the chemistry is not quite there, and then we get picked apart and scored on. So, consistency for sure."

The Oilers penalty kill was third last in the NHL back on Nov. 8 at 67.9 per cent, but has now raised up to 74.9 per cent. That includes their one poor game against Los Angeles where the Kings touched up the Oilers kill for four power-play goals on the night. Outside of that performance, you'd have to go back to Dec. 3 as the last time the PK has given up more than a single goal against.

FOCUS ON THE TWO POINTS

The Oilers opponents on the night, come into the game struggling to live up to the offseason hype provided by the addition of last year's 115-point man in Johnny Gaudreau. The Blue Jackets currently sit dead last in the NHL with a 14-30-3 record and are 31st in the league with a minus-62 goal differential.
For the Oilers however, there is no overlooking their opponents regardless of record. The Pacific Division standings continue to tighten with only six points separating first place from fifth, and it's a message Coach Woodcroft continues to preach.
"I would point to a few things. One, is that we're in a very competitive division where it seems like the teams were going up against our gaining points on a nightly basis. It's imperative that we take care of our own business on a day in day out basis. We're trying to collect points every single time they're up for grabs," he said. "The other thing I would say is I watched a lot of Columbus games this year and I see a team with some dangerous players on a team. They have skill and a work ethic about them that if you're not prepared to play a hard game they can make you pay. We're going to have our handful with a really game and competitive Columbus Blue Jackets team tonight."

The Oilers are treating their current run as it is, a run. The team knows they need to continue to focus on the two-points at hand every night as the margin between a playoff spot and not begins to tighten. The Oilers currently hold on to the first wild card spot in the Western Conference, despite their 27 regulation or overtime wins trailing only the Winnipeg Jets.
"I mean, obviously you have awareness of your game and the way it's gone over the last little stretch, but it's been pretty a pretty good focus of ours just to take it one day at a time and then you can look in the past," Darnell Nurse said. "But with that said, you don't want to have any complacency within the group. You want to make sure there's still that hunger because there's so much hockey left and we look at our spot in the standings, I don't think we're happy exactly where we are. There's still a lot more to want within our game."
"I like to just look at it one game at a time," Skinner added. "I'm sure you could look at all the situations that you're in as pressured situations, but I think at the same time, you just got to look at every day as it's another day. It's another game for us to do our job, and that's what we got to do."

LINEUP NOTES

The Oilers are expected to have some changes in the lines tonight when they take on the Blue Jackets. It was confirmed after morning skate by Jay Woodcroft that Evander Kane will not dress due to some personal issues.
In his stead, it looks likely that Mattias Janmark will return to the Oilers lineup after missing two games due to injury. The 30-year-old's minutes were missed as the forward had not played fewer than 16:26 in any of the four games that started the Oilers win streak. Over those four games, Janmark had recorded a goal and three assists, with 11 shots on goal, and a plus-5 rating.
Stuart Skinner will start in net for the Oilers. The recently named NHL All-Star is coming off an excellent performance in Vancouver where he turned aside 27 of 29 shots against the Canucks in the victory.
The 24-year-old is proving to be a perfect complement to Oilers offseason addition in Jack Campbell, who has been playing his best hockey since signing with the Blue & Orange as of late. Campbell has a 5-0-0 record with a 2.20 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage in his last five games.
While 'Soup' struggled early in the season, Skinner held down the fort and proved himself to be one of the better young netminders in the NHL as evident by his solid .915 save percentage this year and his All-Star honours.
"I never had the thought that he'd go to the NHL All Star Game. I didn't put a limit on it. I just didn't think like that. I felt right from the first time I got to see him that he had some attributes of a really good NHL goaltender," Woodcroft said about Skinner. "He is big, has a level of athleticism to him, is in great shape, and is technically very sound. I think along the way, he really grew in other parts of his game, specifically on the mental side. The ability to handle a big workload, and an ability to go through this early adulthood while shouldering the huge responsibility of being a starting goaltender in the American League."
"I see a quiet confidence about I see somebody who instills confidence or belief from into the team," Woodcroft continued. "I see someone who his teammates play hard for. So what type of guy is he? To me, he's a good example of what a great teammate is."
-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. BLUE JACKETS
WATCH: 7:30 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet West & 360
Oilers Team Scope
The Edmonton Oilers are trying to make the most of a quiet week in their schedule as they prepare to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday with the intention of stretching a six-game win streak to seven.
After competing nearly every other day for the last two months and playing 28 games in 56 days between Nov. 26 and a 4-2 win on Jan. 21 over Vancouver, the Oilers only have two games this week before the All-Star break begins following Saturday's meeting at Rogers Place with the Chicago Blackhawks.
"For me, the way this week presented itself offered a unique opportunity to work at different areas of our game," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "I've thought that we've had a productive couple of days, but in the end, it's about preparing to play against a very game, very competitive Columbus Blue Jackets team that's going to play us hard tomorrow night."
After coming together as a group on Monday, Tuesday's practice was centred on encouraging individual skills work as forwards and defence split into separate groups on different ice surfaces.
"I think it's good once in a while," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "You're touching the puck a lot, feeling good with it, shooting it a lot and making little plays whereas a full-team practice is a lot of systems and stuff and you're not touching the puck as much. It's a little more like what you do in summer where you're working on your skills and doing your individual stuff. I think as players, we want to do that once in a while and feel good about our game."
The Oilers are locked into a rhythm during a six-game win streak that's helped pull them right into the thick of the Pacific Division playoff race and only four points off the first-place Vegas Golden Knights, averaging 5.2 goals-per-game while allowing only 13 total goals during their winning run.

Blue Jackets Team Scope
Forward Johnny Gaudreau's return to Calgary as a member of the Blue Jackets didn't have the story-book ending for the former Flames fourth-round pick in 2011.
Gaudreau recorded two assists in a 4-3 come-from-behind overtime win for the Flames that included plenty of cheers and boo's sent his way during his first game against his former club of eight seasons.
"It'll probably be easier next time, but I'm sure I'll still get booed," Gaudreau said. "It'll be a lot easier. The first time back is a lot of emotions. [I was] a little nervous before the game started, but I was excited to be back. It was a lot of fun playing here."
He even had the opportunity to open the scoring with a penalty shot, but sent his shot wide before he recorded primary helpers on second-period goals from Kirill Marchenko and Patrik Laine. In overtime, his turnover at the Flames blue line led to Dillon Dube's game-winner coming 2:25 into the extra frame.
"It was a weird game," Gaudreau said. "Penalty shot, didn't expect that and missed. Then I get a little tip in the third to get the lead and it hits the post and bounces out. You can only laugh at that type of stuff, but it was awesome. I'm really happy about how our guys played tonight."
Signing Gaudreau to seven-year, $68.25 million contract ($9.75 million AAV) back on July 13 has been one of the only bright spots in recent months for a Columbus team that finds itself in the basement of the NHL with a 14-30-3 record. Although they kept it close on Monday, the Blue Jackets have the second-most losses in the NHL this season by two-plus goals with 25 that's one better than the Anaheim Ducks (26), and are 5-23-2 when allowing the game's first goal.

By The Numbers
The Oilers have the longest active win streak in the NHL at six games... They will look for their first seven-game win streak since a nine-game run in 2000-01... The Oilers are averaging 5.2 goals per game during their six-game winning streak (4+ goals in each game)... The Oilers can set new NHL season high with their seventh straight game with at least four goals (Kraken and Canucks each had six-game streaks)... The Blue Jackets have struggled against Oilers in recent seasons with a 1-5-0 record -- their worst since 2018-19 against any opponent...
Gaudreau visits Rogers Place for the first time as member of Blue Jackets on Wednesday and has 0.53 points per game in the venue that represents the second-lowest rate in his career next to Toronto's Scotiabank Arena (0.42)... Gaudreau's 46 points this season is the third most by a player on a new team behind Kevin Fiala (49) and his former Flames teammate Matthew Tkachuk (60)... Marchenko scored his 10th goal of season on Monday vs. Calgary and became the fifth player in NHL history to have each of his first 10 or more career regular-season points come solely in form of goals (10G, 0A)...
Zach Hyman has recorded nine points in his last three games and claimed the NHL's First Star of the Week honour after surpassing his career-high point total of 54 from last campaign with a four-point night in Saturday's road win at Rogers Arena... Connor McDavid became the fastest active player and first since Jaromir Jagr in 1996-97 to reach 40-goal plateau in a season on Saturday, reaching the mark in his 48th game to edge out Auston Matthews (49 games in 2021-22)... Nugent-Hopkins is coming off his ninth game of season with at least three points... Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid, Hyman and Leon Draisaitl have formed most productive quartet in NHL with 274 combined points...
Injury Report
OILERS - Oscar Klefbom (shoulder) is on IR; Mike Smith (undisclosed) is on IR; Ryan Murray (undisclosed) is on IR; Kailer Yamamoto (undisclosed) is on IR.
BLUE JACKETS - Carson Meyer (strained oblique) is on IR; Yegor Chinakov (sprained ankle) is on IR; Jake Bean (shoulder) is on IR; Zach Werenski (shoulder) is on IR: Jakub Voracek (concussion) is on IR; Justin Danforth (upper body) is on IR.
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com