The Edmonton Oilers’ (9-8-2) current three-game road trip has not only seen them lose to the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs, but also defenceman Darnell Nurse who was injured after taking a hit to the head during the team’s 4-3 overtime loss in Toronto on Saturday.
On Tuesday night, the hockey club will try to emerge from its Eastern Canada tour with a win against the Ottawa Senators (8-8-1).
The Sens have a 5-2-1 record at home this season, while the Oilers have put together a 5-3-1 record on the road.
Offensively, the two clubs have identical scoring rates over the past 10 games at 2.9 goals per game each. In that time frame, the Sens have given up 2.5 goals per game while the Oilers have allowed 2.9 goals per game.
Stuart Skinner is expected to start in goal for the Oilers after Calvin Pickard played in Monday’s 3-0 loss in Montreal.
After being shut out on Monday night, some Oilers players spoke about the team’s struggle to score.
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“I thought we played hard, I thought we controlled a lot of the puck, had some time in the offensive zone, but maybe a little bit too much perimeter,” Oilers forward Derek Ryan said. “You’re not going to score pretty goals all the time.
“We’ve got to kind of grind it out and get a greasy one every now and then.”
The Oilers have scored just 50 goals in their first 19 games this season, even though the club was expected to be an offensive powerhouse.
“We’re not scoring at the rate that we usually do right now,” Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm acknowledged.
“When you don’t and things aren’t going your way, that’s when you’ve got to go back to your fundamentals and just play it simple.”
–With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
