PREVIEW: Oilers at Devils

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will set a new franchise record with his 1,038th game played for the Edmonton Oilers as they look to make it eight straight road wins on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Devils

NEWARK, NJ – No. 93 will stand alone at the top of Edmonton's all-time games played list on Tuesday at the Rock when the puck drops on their opportunity to extend their road winning streak to eight straight.

With the start of their finale to a three-game road trip through the Big Apple, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will set a new franchise record with his 1,038th game played for the Blue & Orange, surpassing Kevin Lowe's long-standing mark that's been intact since 1998, with the Nuge having done it all in Oil Country over 16 seasons since he was taken first overall by the club in 2011.

The Burnaby product continues to play the two-way role he's become revered for in Edmonton after scoring twice in Saturday's 4-0 win over the Islanders to begin the road trip on Long Island, their second straight shutout win, before the Rangers were able to break the streak at 159:20, but only that in Sunday's 4-1 result against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden to close out a weekend back-to-back.

Nugent-Hopkins has 11 points (4G, 7A) over his last 11 games against the Devils, who've won five of their last six games and have been bolstered by the arrival of goalie Connor Hellebuyck in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets. But the Oilers are a fierce challenge, averaging the second-highest goals per game (4.21) and doing a great job suppressing chances, allowing only one goal over their three straight wins and two high-danger chances against the Rangers.

In addition to Nuge, the Oilers also stand alone atop the Western Conference with an 11-2-2 record, lifted by their three-game win streak and seven consecutive road victories, the fifth-longest road winning streak to start a season in NHL history.

Read below for more ahead of Tuesday's date with the Devils.

OILERS TEAM SCOPE

Matt Tomkins stepped up with 28 saves in his first NHL appearance since 2024 after McDavid set the tone only 50 seconds in, as the Oilers made easy work of the Rangers on Sunday in the second of a back-to-back to win their seventh straight on the road.

McDavid wasted no time putting the Oilers ahead for good at Madison Square Garden, extending his point streak to 15 games before Colton Dach scored his first of two goals to mark his first career multi-goal game almost five minutes later. 

The captain added an assist on Evan Bouchard's power-play marker in the second period that made it 3-0 to extend his NHL record season-opening assist streak to 15 games (30A). McDavid leads the NHL with nine goals & 30 assists in 15 games, while Leon Draisaitl (28) sits second after adding two assists, and Bouchard's goal and two assists gave him 26 points for third place, rounding out the League's current top three in scoring. 

The trio have combined for 93 points this season, the most by three teammates through 15 games over the past 30 years (since 1996-97).

Dach continued his terrific stretch since switching back to the win with the return of Jason Dickinson to the lineup, recording two goals to give himself three goals and an assist over his last four games, and the team's depth is finding ways to contribute despite the dominance of the Oilers' top trio of McDavid, Draisaitl and Bouchard.

"Obviously, we've lived off our best guys for sure," Babcock said. "But in saying that, I thought our depth was good. When we played better teams early, we didn't have the same kind of depth. With Nuge back, I mean, it was back-to-back, so it was harder, but Dacher, Kappy and Nuge have been very effective for us, to say the least. It allows the other guys to just do their thing."

DEVILS TEAM SCOPE

New Jersey has won five of its last six games after defeating Edmonton's Pacific rivals in the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 on the road this past Friday, and they'll look to take advantage of a few days of rest when they open a two-game homestand against the Oilers.

Connor Hellebuyck earned his second straight win since joining the Devils, and Arseny Gritsyuk and Jack Hughes each scored twice to help New Jersey improve to 9-5-0. The Devils responded from a 5-2 loss to the Avalanche on Wednesday, but have been building themselves up through some positive early-season growth to make a challenge in the Metropolitan Division this season after missing last year's playoffs.

“We’re developing great confidence around here in our ability,” Head Coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We had to refocus and get ready for here (after the Colorado loss). It was another really good team. The guys responded the way we wanted. … In terms of playing with a lead, it’s probably the best third period we’ve had in the season. We couldn’t ask for more in terms of the response.”

One area the Devils want to improve is special teams, operating at only 16.7 percent on the power play, which is good enough for only 24th in the League, while their penalty kill sits 25th at 70.0 percent.

Former Oiler Connor Brown was moved to the top-unit power play during Monday's practice as they look to shake things up ahead of a visit from Edmonton, with the winger having spent time on the top unit last season.

“First of all, he brings familiarity,” Keefe said of Brown. “That group had a lot of success, and we liked it a lot at the end of the season last season.”

“Brownie's just a familiar guy that we've been with before. We know exactly what he's going to bring to our lineup,” Jesper Bratt said. “He has a lot of knowledge, played with some really good players on the power play before too, and I think last year he just helped guys like me, Nico, and Jack, and Luke too, just kind of evolve our game a little bit in the power play and give us a little bit of input to what he has learned over the years and stuff like that."

"It could work for us, and I think that last year we really took a big stride there, and I think that that's kind of what we're looking for now. Just try to get more into some familiarity and some patches that we were onto last year that can help us get over that hump.”

WHAT THEY SAID

McDavid on Edmonton's current form heading into a meeting with New Jersey:

"Yeah, we're doing a lot of good things. Our D are playing really well. I think we're doing a good job of keeping it to the outside, and our goalies are making the saves that they should. The kill has been good, too."

McDavid on how the team's form has helped him have a great start to the season:

"It's actually been really fun to have things so new here in Edmonton. It's been really fun to just dive in and just sink your teeth into a new system, a new kind of way of playing, and it's kind of left my own [success] secondary just trying to take care of the things that I need to do within the system. Those things have been happening, and it's just been a byproduct of everybody playing.

"When the team is winning games, individual stuff happens like that, and definitely, I've been the beneficiary of some great team play."