"They're obviously playing much better as of late," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said of the Oilers. "They have a pretty scary dynamic duo and good complementary pieces. … It's another challenge on home ice here trying to re-establish our game a little bit."
In first place in the Atlantic Division at 35-12-5, the Cats are looking to rebound after dropping back-to-back games for the first time since mid-December. After opening up their five-game homestand with a 6-4 loss to Nashville on Tuesday, they fell 6-3 to Columbus on Thursday.
Losing for just the fifth time in 28 games at home this season, the Panthers trailed the Blue Jackets 3-2 early in the third period after Huberdeau cut the deficit down to one with his 18th goal of the season before Columbus added three more goals to pull away later in the frame.
At 5-on-5, Florida led the Blue Jackets 26-18 in scoring chances.
"It's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows and all that stuff. Losing might be a good thing for our team," Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. "We're going to face adversity at times throughout the year, and this is one of them. It's a big one against the Oilers on Saturday."
Pushing his point streak to nine games - including five straight games with multiple points - in the loss, Huberdeau has tallied 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) in that that torrid stretch. Also making history, he's set a new franchise record by dishing out an assist in each of those games.
Gaining some buzz for the Hart Trophy, No. 11 has points in 43 of 52 games this season.
"He's had a tremendous season," Brunette said. "He keeps producing night after night. It's a little our whole team and how we play. We have a lot of depth in the offensive part of our game. He's obviously as skilled and as creative [a player] as there is in the league."
While full lineup details won't be known until closer to puck drop, Brunette did announce after Friday's practice that Sergei Bobrovsky will man the crease after backing up last game. Owning a 26-5-3 record with a .917 save percentage, he's gone 14-2-1 over his last 17 appearances.
Standing tall against the Oilers earlier this season, Bobrovsky stopped all 40 shots he faced in a 6-0 win at Edmonton on Jan. 20. Fueling the offense for the Cats in the win, Aleksander Barkov (two goals, one assist) and Sam Reinhart (three assists) each chipped in three points up front.
The only team in the NHL averaging more than four goals per game, the Panthers (4.10 goals per game) rank first in the league on offense, while the Oilers (3.29 goals per game) sit in 10th.
Holding the second wild card spot in the Western Conference at 28-20-3, Edmonton has come out of a five-game winning streak with consecutive losses to the Wild (7-3) and Lightning (5-3).
Trailing 4-2 in the third period at Tampa Bay on Wednesday, McDavid lit the lamp a second time to trim the deficit to 4-3 with roughly 10 minutes left on the clock. But with only a few seconds remaining in regulation, Nikita Kucherov cashed in on an empty net to put the Lightning up 5-3.
Over his last eight games, McDavid has scored five goals.
"There was a lot of good in that game in Tampa Bay and we tried to mine that game for a lot of the good things that the team did," Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft told the team's website.
Between the pipes, Mike Smith has started seven of the last nine games for Edmonton, posting a 3-4-0 record with a .882 save percentage in that span. Getting the bulk of the work in net prior to Smith's return from an injury, Mikko Koskinen has gone 17-8-2 with a .899 save percentage.
"We have to keep it simple," Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen said.
