PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Bruins

The Edmonton Oilers will wrap up 2025 at Rogers Place on Wednesday, when they face the Boston Bruins on New Year's Eve.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 7:30 pm MST or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Bruins

EDMONTON, AB – With Wednesday's final farewell to 2025, we'll be saying hello to home ice to begin 2026.

The Edmonton Oilers will host the Boston Bruins on New Year's Eve to close 2025 and the most challenging chapter of their season, giving way to a heavy home schedule in January and early February that will include 12 of their next 18 games at Rogers Place before the start of the NHL's Olympic break.

The Oilers were on the road for 24 of their first 40 games of the regular season, including all of their Eastern road trips, which means they won't cross the Central time zone against for the rest of the campaign, making for easier travel and plenty of home games to come down the stretch to the playoffs.

Edmonton (20-14-6) is currently holding down first in the Pacific Division despite the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights holding games in hand.

The Blue & Orange closed out their most recent two-game road trip with a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Monday, following up a loss to the Calgary Flames by receiving a season-high 41 saves from Calvin Pickard in a stellar performance from the 33-year-old in his hometown.

"Obviously, there's some time between starts here, and you want to get into it, but I felt good," Pickard said. "I felt good in practice, and I'm confident. This is my third year here. I'm confident behind the group and just trying to do my job."

Pickard made some valuable saves during the first period, finishing with nine saves on the penalty kill as Edmonton finished 3-for-3 shorthanded, but received help from the forwards & defencemen in front of him, pushing the Jets to the outside and sacrificing the body to help keep the Jets limited to a single tally from Winnipeg captain Adam Lowry in the third period.

Pickard came up with his fourth victory this season and his first since Dec. 3 against the Seattle Kraken.

"This team's been through a lot," Pickard said. "A lot of playoff games and sacrifice. It's a tough building to play in. You see Leon make a big block. You see all these guys make big plays. Hyman had a great stick lift right before we iced the game there, so a lot of good plays all around; a lot of good, experienced players that make big plays at the right time."

On a night when Connor McDavid needed a late assist on Zach Hyman's empty-net goal to extend his league-best point streak to 13 games (13G, 20A), Edmonton's depth shone through after winger Max Jones opened the scoring with his first goal of the season during the second period by converting off a hard forecheck in tandem with Curtis Lazar.

"We've been winning so many games on the sticks of Connor and Leon, and tonight Winnipeg did a pretty job keeping those guys in check," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "It's nice to see the other guys contribute. We should be able to win once in a while without them having to be a plus, and it was nice to see Max get his first goal."

Jack Roslovic followed it up 4:46 later as part of the Oilers' second-unit power play, burying a rebound past netminder Connor Hellebuyck from the left circle to double the lead to 2-0 with his 11th goal of the campaign – his first in the four games since returning on Dec. 21 from a nearly month-long injury absence.

"Seeing him get that was great," Pickard said of Jones. "He's an awesome guy. Makes me laugh, great to have around, and he's been playing well, giving us good energy, hitting, and playing hard. It was good to see him get rewarded."

With the help of Hyman's stick lift off a draw inside the Oilers' zone during the final two minutes with the net empty, the winger was able to ice the victory with his 11th goal of the season – all of which have come over his last 15 games – while extending his point streak to five games (3G, 5A).

McDavid recorded the primary helper on the empty-netter and now has 33 points (13G, 20A) during December over his 13-game point streak, while leading the NHL with 69 points (24G, 45A) in 40 games this season.

The Oilers captain will be looking to lead the Oilers to victory against the Bruins for the second time in nearly two weeks after he posted a goal and an assist back on Dec. 18 in their 3-1 victory at TD Garden in Boston that was part of their last Eastern swing of the season.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – who dropped his gloves with Neal Pionk in the second period of Monday's win over Winnipeg – also recorded a multi-point game last time out against the Bruins, while Quinn Hutson's first career NHL goal held up as the game winner in a match where Pickard had to come in to replace Tristan Jarry, stopping all 13 shots he faced after he was removed with under four minutes left in the middle frame due to injury.

The Bruins are coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to the Flames on Sunday, where Andrew Peeke gave them a 1-0 lead before Calgary found the equalizer at 13:32 of the second period from Blake Coleman. Connor Zary’s power-play tally at 1:53 of extra time ultimately sealed the loss for the Bruins.