PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Blackhawks

The Edmonton Oilers host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday at Rogers Place as they look to extend their win streak to five games.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 7:00pm MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED. Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Blackhawks

EDMONTON, AB – Winning at the right time – and the right way.

With a visit from the Chicago Blackhawks on tap Thursday at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers will be aiming to make it five wins in a row as they continue to push to lock down a playoff spot and fight for first place in the Pacific Division with seven regular-season games left.

Edmonton’s task of locking down a playoff spot and finishing first in the Pacific down the final stretch of the campaign has fuelled their drive to simplify their game in hopes of peaking when the postseason officially begins, continuing on Tuesday in a 3-0 shutout win over the Seattle Kraken.

“Any winning team's usually pretty happy versus a losing team,” said Evan Bouchard, whose 86 points (20 goals) lead all NHL defencemen. “I think the excitement's coming with playoffs around the corner. It's a good time for us to get another win streak here.”

The Oilers’ strong four-game run of results has come despite Draisaitl’s injury keeping him out for the remainder of the regular season, and their power play has yet to score during the win streak. But depth scoring down the lineup, a commitment to defending and a 10-for-11 penalty kill (90.9 percent) have been critical to their recent success.

"It's a great sign, but special teams are a big part of the games going forward," Bouchard said. "Running without the power play goals, our penalty kills really stepped up, so if we can start chipping on the power play, it's going to be even better for us."

“I think it keeps things more sound,” added Connor Murphy on simple defending. “It kind of limits some of the zone time, limits a little bit of the grade A’s, so it keeps everyone in a better position to not panic and be able to bounce back the next shift to play more offence. I think anytime you can simplify a game, it gets everyone on the same page.”

On Tuesday, Max Jones & the fourth line broke the deadlock in the first period before Kasperi Kapanen found the scoresheet later in the frame for a 2-0 lead on the Kraken through 20 minutes, giving the Oilers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in front of Ingram.

Ingram stood tall the rest of the way, along with the penalty kill, to keep the shutout intact before Zach Hyman added an empty-netter late in regulation, bringing the Oilers within two points of the Ducks for first place in the Pacific at the final buzzer with two more big points.

Murphy will play his former Blackhawks teammates for the first time since being traded before the Trade Deadline back in early March, along with Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach, and has been a strong fit next to Darnell Nurse on the second pair.

“Just his competitiveness, and we think similarly with defensive plays and are defensive-minded, trying to be fast to closing corners and stronger on our net and get some blocks and sticks on pucks,” Murphy said. “So I think anytime you have a guy that thinks similarly to you, it makes the reads a little easier.”

The Oilers will have Trent Frederic available to return to the lineup on Thursday after missing the last five games. Head Coach Kris Knoblauch added that Colton Dach is day-to-day and could be back either on Thursday or Saturday against the Golden Knights.

The bench boss mentioned there'll be some hard lineup decisions ahead as the roster becomes healthy, with that detail occupying much of the coach's discussions.

"It's going to be a very difficult decision, and we've spent a lot of time thinking about what we need to do going forward," Knoblauch said. "I think it's important that everyone stays involved, everyone still gets to play a little bit, because during the playoffs, we're always going to have injuries, and you don't want to have somebody sitting for weeks and then saying, 'okay, we need you now.'"

"So we'll probably make some lineup changes just to get everyone involved and have some game-playing time. Then, we also have to consider roles, whether you're on a power play, on the penalty kill and positional play, key face-offs, that kind of stuff. We've got a lot of good players that are playing right now, and we're going to have more."