PREVIEW: Oilers at Jets

The Edmonton Oilers continue their fast start to the 2023 preseason on Monday when they travel to Winnipeg for the second of back-to-back games against the Jets.

You can watch the game live on Oilers Plus at 6:00 pm MT, including the Live Pre-Game Show which begins 30 minutes prior to puck drop, or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

Fans who aren't yet subscribed to Oilers Plus can receive their first month free when they sign up on a monthly basis. Click here and use the code PRESEASON23 to activate this promotion.

GAME DAY ESSENTIALS

VIDEO

• OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. WPG
• ANALYSIS | Post-Game vs. WPG
• POST-RAW | Brandon Sutter
• POST-RAW | Beau Akey
• POST-RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft

WRITTEN

• PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers at Jets
• POST-GAME: Akey in awe of first NHL experience
• POST-GAME: Sutter continues his comeback
• RELEASE: Parkatti named Sr. Director, Data & Analytics
• CAMP: Campbell, Skinner focused on forming strong tandem
• TALKING POINTS: Holland speaks at start of Camp
• CAMP: Oilers ready for fast-paced & competitive Camp
• RELEASE: Oilers announce Training Camp roster

PREVIEW - Oilers at Jets

EDMONTON, AB – Despite their 2-1 defeat to the Winnipeg Jets in the shootout to open their eight-game pre-season schedule, Head Coach Jay Woodcroft was pleased with what he saw from the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night.

With seven more exhibition games to go, continuing tonight with the second of back-to-back games against Winnipeg at 6:00 pm MT, the bench boss will hope it's the start of a very productive preseason for the Blue & Orange when it comes to laying the foundation for a long campaign and showcasing some of the changes they've tried to implement over the course of Training Camp.

"I thought it was a good game for our team. There were a lot of really good signs," Woodcroft said. "Things that we worked on showed up in the game, and I thought the pace was good for the first exhibition game of the year.”

Zach Hyman netted Edmonton’s lone goal behind a solid Collin Delia, who made 36 saves for the Jets, with the experienced line of Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane exemplifying some veteran poise for the Blue & Orange in a 20-man roster that featured plenty of new faces and up-and-coming prospects.

“I thought our veteran line of Nugent-Hopkins, Kane and Hyman really set the competitive tone for the game, and then we got really good contributions up and down the lineup,” Woodcroft added.

The trio of established Oilers helped push the pace with close to 20 minutes of ice time apiece in the loss and produced a power-play goal as the forwards on Edmonton’s first-unit power play that was filled out by Evan Bouchard and Lane Pederson.

Sunday served as an early opportunity for the three regular Oilers forwards to settle back into playing in an NHL atmosphere and form some chemistry that could pay off down the road in the regular season.

"I think it was an opportunity to get them a home exhibition game early, and what I really liked is you can have the attitude of, 'Oh, I have to go play this game,' but I thought all three of them displayed a fantastic attitude and they set the competitive tone for the rest of the group,” Woodcroft said.

“They had numerous chances. They were buzzing. They did some good things defensively, and I was quite pleased. And when they play that well together, it's a little kernel in your mind that says, 'Oh, maybe if I ever have to change things up, that's something that maybe we could go to.'

For the club’s younger prospects like Beau Akey, it was an eye-opening experience getting to play in a competitive game for the first time at Rogers Place, but the 2023 second-round pick’s performance even caught Woodcroft by surprise.

The 18-year-old had his shoulder tapped in the final minute of overtime and acquitted himself very nicely in the eyes of the coaching staff over the full 60 minutes, along with some other important pieces of Edmonton’s future in Dylan Holloway, James Hamblin and Xavier Bourgault.

“For some of the unusual suspects, Beau Akey had a good game. You can see why he was drafted where he was,” Woodcroft said. “He has poise, he's competitive, he made a lot of really good plays with the puck and was unafraid of the stage, so that's a good sign for our team.

“I thought Dylan Holloway had a very good game noticeable in all three zones. That line of Caggiula with Hamblin and Bourgault gave us some quality minutes. We just kind of spread the minutes out, but we got lots of really good contributions there, so it was a good game for everybody."

LINEUP NOTES

Coach Woodcroft mentioned in his post-game assessment of Brandon Sutter's performance on Sunday that he's hesitant to play too many players back-to-back this early in the preseason, so we can anticipate a lot of changes to the lineup tonight – especially with 56 players still remaining on the Oilers Training Camp roster.

View the Oilers projected lineup for tonight's game in Winnipeg here.