The Edmonton Oilers currently sit in the top Wild Card spot. Despite playing stronger hockey as of late, particularly after the add of Mattias Ekholm, they have not been able to gain ground on the Kings or Kraken. That isn't going to get any easier this month as 7 of the remaining 11 games this month are against teams that are currently ahead of the Oilers in the standings; the Bruins, Leafs, Stars, Kraken, Golden Knights twice and the Kings.

If Edmonton wants to win the Cup they are going to need to win games against teams that area ahead of them and perhaps teams that are better than them as well. The Oilers... well Connor McDavid came close to beating the Bruins a couple weeks ago but the Bruins showed why they are the best in the NHL right now. Winning tonight would be a major step in proving this team can be a dominant force.

The net once again belongs solely to Stuart Skinner which is a good thing. While Campbell may have had the better record, his overall performance has not matched Skinner's at any point this season. The All Star goalie for Edmonton is their best chance at making noise in the post-season.

Another big add for the Oilers tonight... some might say it's basically another deadline add (I wouldn't) is the return of Evander Kane to the Oilers lineup. A healthy Kane is a huge boost to this team but unfortunetly he has not been healthy for most of this season. A terrible skate injury at the start of the season kept him out for months and then broken ribs kept him out for another month. Conditioning will be something to keep an eye out for but hopefully these remaining 16 games will be enough to to get the big man back to full game form and ready for the post-season.

With the roster fully healthy, here is the best possible line combos for the Oilers:

Kane-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Foegele-McLeod-Bjugstad
Shore-Ryan-Kostin

Nurse-Ceci
Ekholm-Bouchard
Kulak-Desharnais
Broberg

Skinner
Campbell

Thanks for reading and enjoy the game!

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