The Islanders have to play at Minnesota before this one, and that game should tell us a lot about Saturday. New York was 6-4-2 after a 4-3 shootout win in Nashville on Tuesday. Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves there for his first NHL win since November 2024, but the Islanders needed the shootout after blowing a 3-goal lead. How the Wild game goes, and who plays goal in it, decides which Islanders team Edmonton sees at 2:00 PM ET.
Edmonton's last 5 games were all at Rogers Place, so this is the first road trip in a while for a team that has blown leads at home. Losing leads at home is a habit. Losing them in somebody else's building is how a hot start ends. The Oilers do have 2 days off after the Calgary game before puck drop, so this isn't a tired-legs spot. It's mostly a question of whether the defensive lapses from the Detroit game come along on the flight.
New York is short-handed up front too. Mathew Barzal (knee) is out, and Calum Ritchie (lower body) is on injured reserve for about 4-6 weeks. That has pushed Brayden Schenn to center, and he's handled it well enough to score his 300th NHL goal in Nashville. Anthony Duclair and Bo Horvat also scored in that game. Both teams have injured lineups and both have given away big leads this month, so neither one looks great on paper and nobody is running away with this one.