Edmonton Oilers (19-11-2) at San Jose Sharks (11-19-5)
TV: Sportsnet. Radio: 880 CHED.
TIME: 2 p.m. Saturday
Odds: Sharks +320, Oilers -420
THE SETUP
The Oilers are coming off a harsh stretch facing a handful of the top teams in the NHL right now, and took four out of five wins. Now, the third-place team in the Pacific gets a visit from the bottom feeders in this divisional matchup. Edmonton comes in having won six of seven, while the Sharks have lost six of seven.
LEON ALONE ON TOP
Leon Draisaitl leads the league with 23 goals and sits second overall with 50 points in 32 games. Mikael Granlund leads the way for the Sharks, sitting tied for 34th in scoring with 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 33 games.
PICKING PICKARD
With playing back-to-back this weekend, the Oilers are going with backup goalie Calvin Pickard this afternoon. The 32-year-old is 7-3-0 with a 2.41 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage on the year.
THE POLL
How many wins will the Oilers end up with in December?
- 6-7
- 8-9
- 10-11
THE QUOTE
“The playoff race, the positioning race is always so tight, every point matters. Even the points in December, these count too. So, these are games that we’ll have to be up for and ready to take care of business.”
• Oilers captain Connor McDavid
THE LINEUPS
SAN JOSE
Forwards
Goodrow – Granlund – Zetterlund
Kovalenko – Celebrini – Toffoli
Eklund – Wennberg – Smith
Grundstrum – Sturm – Kunin
Defence
Walman – Ceci
Ferraro – Rutta
Thrun – Mukhamadullin
Goalies
Georgiev
Askarov
EDMONTON
Forwards
Draisaitl – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Nugent-Hopkins – Kapanen
Arvidsson – Henrique – Brown
Skinner – Janmark – Perry
Defence
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson
Goalies
Pickard
Skinner
INJURIES
SHARKS: G Vitek Vanecek (head)
EDMONTON: None
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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