OILERS GAME DAY VS. FLYERS
Edmonton Oilers (30-19-8), 68 points, vs. Philadelphia Flyers (27-23-7, 61 points), 7 p.m. SportsNet, 630 CHED.
WHO TO WATCH:
Oilers Connor McDavid. He’s leading NHL in scoring with 62 points, but all eyes will be on the Oilers captain and how he reacts to Flyers’ defenceman Brandon Manning after they exchanged barbs on the ice and McDavid told media afterwards the Philly player had hinted he’d intentionally hurt him last season. Flyers Brandon Manning. The defenceman who trains here in the summer months plays a hard game. He’s been that way since he was playing junior for the Prince George Cougars. He will be the villain at Rogers Place, of course, and there could be some fireworks. Game Notes: Jordan Eberle, Milan Lucic and Ryan NugentHopkins are all stuck on 11 goals. To put that in perspective, 37-year-old Jason Chimera has 14 goals for the Islanders … Mark Letestu’s PP goal against the Coyotes turned out to be the game-winner. He has five on the year, tied with McDavid for the team high. Five of Letestu’s 11 goals have been GW’s … Flyer coach Dave Hakstol should have a nice fan section at Rogers Place. He’s from Warburg … Cam Talbot has a 1.00 goal average and three shutouts in five career games against Flyers … Oscar Klefbom had a career-high three points against Arizona and has led Oilers in ice-time the last four games … Flyers forward Brayden Schenn leads the NHL with 12 power play goals and Wayne Simmonds is tied for second with 11 … Philly captain Claude Giroux is minus 17 in his last 21 games and only 19 of his 41 points were scored 5-on-5 … Expect Philly’s Jake Voracek to be firing away. He’s eighth in NHL shots with 184 … Leon Draisaitl’s 10 PP goals are sixth in the league … Ex-Oilers defenceman Nick Schultz has only played 16 games this year … Flyers’ rookie D Ivan Provorov is averaging a whopping 211/2 minutes a game. He’s their best defenceman and he’s only 19. Injuries Oilers — Benoit Pouliot (undisclosed), Kris Russell (lower-body, suspected groin), Jujhar Khaira (wrist), Darnell Nurse (torn ligament right ankle), Tyler Pitlick (torn ACL). Flyers — Travis Konecny (lower-body).