PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Canadiens

The Edmonton Oilers host the Montreal Canadiens at Rogers Place on Tuesday night in the third game of a four-game homestand.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 7:00 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Canadiens

EDMONTON, AB – A last-second overtime defeat on Saturday night in a playoff-calibre test at Rogers Place against the Avalanche is as close as it gets for the Oilers to replicating the real thing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“It was a good game. It was a playoff-like game; tight-checking,” Connor McDavid said after Monday's practice. “I thought we did a good job of wrestling a lead. To be up one with five minutes to go, you’ve got to find a way to close it out. But obviously, we didn't do that.”

Edmonton trailed Colorado 2-1 through 40 minutes before Warren Foegele’s second goal in as many games and Sam Carrick’s first with the Oilers gave their team a one-goal lead against the 2022 Stanley Cup champions with just over eight minutes remaining in regulation.

The Avalanche answered back three minutes later when defenceman Sean Walker activated from the blueline and avoided Edmonton’s zonal coverage to convert his second goal of the game and ultimately force overtime for the fifth straight meeting between the two Western Conference elites.

In overtime, the Avalanche used every second (or tenth of a second) they had to net the game-winner through Artturi Lehkonen, who escaped Leon Draisaitl’s coverage and went hard to the crease to put away Nathan MacKinnon’s quick feed out front with 0.5 seconds left on the clock.

While losing 3-2 to Colorado on a last-ditch play isn’t the result Edmonton would’ve hoped for, it was a solid reminder to the group against one of the League’s best measuring-stick teams of the attention to detail and execution that will be required to go deep into the postseason.

“You're not going to win every game,” Zach Hyman said. “It was a game we probably could’ve won. They probably felt the same way. They played really well I thought and its one of those that kind of feels a little bit different than a normal regular season game.

“They're going to be a strong test for us in the playoffs if we do see them, and it's a nice kind of measuring stick game for yourself when you're playing against a team that's won a cup and that's up in the standings.”

To be the last team standing and win the Stanley Cup, you have to beat the best and Edmonton will get two more cracks this regular season at the 2022 Stanley Cup champs who ended their playoff run that year in a four-game sweep of the Western Conference Final.

“You’ve got to beat them. That's the only way,” McDavid said. “Like you said, it's been tight-checking games. They've been close games, five consecutive overtime games. We look back at the playoff series and they win, it's a sweep, and they go on to win the cup. If you want to be considered better than them, you have to beat them. That's just the way it is. So hopefully, we get that opportunity.”

Despite the defeat, the Oilers were high-spirited and focused during Monday’s practice at Rogers Place trying to close the gap between their regular-season and playoff form after their defensive details came up marginally short against the Avalanche on Saturday night.

The Oilers stay true to their practice habits whether it’s a win or a loss, and preparing to encounter the Canadiens on home ice on Tuesday night is no different despite the Habs finding themselves in a different stage of their evolution into a playoff contender.

“You don't want losses to start to roll into the next game. It's important that you get back at it, and I think it starts in practice. It really does,” McDavid said. “We've done a good job of working in practice when our game isn't where it needs to be and working our way out of it, and I thought today, not to say that our game is in a bad place, but I thought today was good practice.

“The way you practice is important,” Hyman added. “You want to feel good in practice so when it's a game, you're ready to go and you're feeling at your best. Any time after a loss, you want to make sure you get a good practice in and get ready for tomorrow.”

Vincent Desharnais completed a full practice on Monday despite missing the full third period against the Avalanche following his fight with Josh Manson.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said the defenceman feels "pretty good" despite suffering an apparent hand injury during the fight and that he'll have to follow up with the team's medical staff to get the 'OK' on the defenceman for Tuesday.

Desharnais didn't take line rushes during the practice, with Troy Stecher instead taking his place on the second pairing with Darnell Nurse to signal that the 29-year-old could be in line to fill in for the 6-foot-7 blueliner if he's unable to go against the Canadiens.

Stecher made his Oilers debut back on Mar. 13 against the Capitals when Mattias Ekholm was a scratch due to illness, but Knoblauch said he thinks it's important to get Stecher back in the lineup soon to help keep all of his seven defencemen ready should any sudden changes happen on the blueline (or at forward).

"Absolutely. We'll make some changes," Knoblauch said. "We don't want to just go with our playoff-set roster just because there's going to be bumps and bruises. We don't want a guy sitting for a month or six weeks, and then we need him into the playoffs in the second round or whatever it is – whether that's a defenseman or forward.

"We will have a little bit of rotation, but we don't want to be rotating too much because we still want to win as many games as possible."