The Edmonton Oilers are flying high as they return to Alberta to face the Utah Mammoth on Thursday.
Edmonton has won five straight games and is the NHL’s only club that remains unbeaten in regulation time this season. Thanks to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, the Oilers completed a sweep of all three California-based teams on their recent road trip.
The Oilers have long shown off their offensive prowess, led by captain Connor McDavid and his league-leading 17 points (four goals, 13 assists). However, they also are displaying an ability to shut down teams early this season, having surrendered only five goals in their past four games.
“We’re comfortable in a lot of different situations,” said McDavid, who scored once in a four-point performance against the Kings. “We’ve won games 9-7. We’ve come back in games and gotten points. … This team’s building its identity, building its structure.”
As the Oilers prepare for the first half of a home-and-home series that concludes Saturday in Salt Lake City, they may also receive a boost.
Forward Zach Hyman is likely to return to the lineup after missing the past five outings due to an undisclosed injury.
Edmonton also is without two other top-six forwards, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Matt Savoie; another couple of depth forwards, Colton Dach and Mattias Janmark. Defenseman Jake Walman is day-to-day.
Those injuries have not impacted the club too greatly, especially with the forward line of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin combining for 37 points (15 goals, 22 assists) through six games.
“It’s pretty impressive how we’re able to score ballistically and also play like a really solid defensive game,” goalie Devon Levi said.
The Mammoth are feeling positive about their game these days, too. At least to a point.
Utah has started the season with a 5-2-0 mark and is coming off a 5-4 home victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
The optimism from a winning record is important, but there were some troubles in dispatching the Maple Leafs. Utah held a 3-0 lead early in the second period and had a 5-2 edge seven minutes into third period but was forced to hold on for the win.
“We were resilient out there, but obviously we didn’t play the way we wanted to play in the third period,” said defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who collected one goal and one assist. “We were backing off a little bit, not attacking as much as we should have been, but it’s only game seven of the season. … We’re going to learn from it.”
After claiming a playoff berth last season, hopes are high for the young Mammoth to take a big step forward. The strong start to the campaign is what the club is looking for, but the coaching staff will have the task of ensuring the players keep pushing themselves.
“Even if we have success, we need to manage it the right way and learn from what we need to do better so that we can keep being successful,” coach Andre Tourigny said. “The No. 1 thing that we can’t do is mismanage our success. That will lead to failure, so we don’t want to do that.”