OILERS GAME DAY

Calgary Flames at Edmonton Oilers 7 p.m., MT at Rogers Place,

TV: Sportsnet, radio: 630 CHED

OILERS’ KEYS TO THE GAME

Another Oilers’ win Why not? The Oilers are 9-2 against Pacific teams this year. They have beaten Calgary six straight going back to last year, and are 2-0 this season with their smothering 3-0 shutout of an opener here Oct. 4, and the wide-open 7-5 win in Calgary Dec. 2, when they almost gassed a 6-1 lead in the third period. Last season, they outscored Calgary 21-11 in the four victories, and 31-16 over the last six. The Flames were at home Wednesday against L.A., so the Oilers catch them on the second half of a back-to-back. A goal on the power play?

Just one in 24 tries over the last 10 games with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, just 10 for 70 at home. The Oilers say they’re getting more shots on the power play than last year. But it’s giving the team absolutely no goals or momentum. Last year, they were fifth on the power play. This year, they are almost deadlast. How can that be with basically the same players?

Life-sucking penalty kill

Three more power-play goals allowed Tuesday as the 29th-ranked Sabres scored on the first three in a total of 2:07 of power-play time, which is barely more than a two-minute minor. This is becoming comical more than tragic. The Oilers have given up 33 power-play goals in 24 games at home this year, which is more than 27 teams have surrendered both home and away. That’s total. Next closest is 23 by Ottawa. In only four home games have the Oilers made it through without giving up a power-play goal.

File missing persons report

Ryan Strome works hard and can play centre or the wing, but he hasn’t scored in 12 straight games and has just one assist in that time. He hasn’t scored in over a month, back to Dec. 23 at home against Montreal. Some nastiness

Would be nice, wouldn’t it? Some hatred? Probably not. In the two meetings this year, we’ve had one fight (Zack Kassian vs. Tanner Glass). In the two games, 34 total penalty minutes. You can count on Matthew Tkachuk being his abrasive, in-your-face guy for Calgary and winger Garnet Hathaway is a disturber, but in the 7-5 Oilers win in Calgary, when the Flames scored four third-period goals in seven minutes to almost pull off an incredible rally, we got eight penalties.

TONIGHT’S LINEUPS

Edmonton (projected) Forwards Patrick Maroon Connor McDavid Drake Caggiula

Milan Lucic Leon Draisaitl Jesse Puljujarvi

Jujhar Khaira Ryan Strome Anton Slepyshev

Iiro Pakarinen Mark Letestu Zack Kassian

Defence

Darnell Nurse Adam Larsson Oscar Klefbom Matt Benning Brandon Davidson Kris Russell

Goal

Cam Talbot

Al Montoya

Calgary (projected)

Johnny Gaudreau Sean Monahan Michael Ferland

Matthew Tkachuk Mikael Backlund Troy Brouwer

Sam Bennett Mark Jankowski Garnet Hathaway

Marek Hrivik Matt Stajan Curtis Lazar Defence

Mark Giordano Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie Travis Hamonic

Brett Kulak Michael Stone

Goal

Mike Smith

David Rittich

Injuries

Oilers: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (ribs) Flames: Michael Frolik (broken jaw), Kris Versteeg (hip), Jaromir Jagr (groin).

Who to watch

Gaudreau vs. McDavid

Gaudreau’s a left-winger and McDavid’s a centre, so it’s not an ideal match-up. But in the NHL scoring race, they’re very close. Gaudreau is seventh with 55 points, 15 goals. McDavid is 11th with 53 points, also 15 goals. Both players have just three power-play goals on their season so they’ve been doing their best work five-on-five. Gaudreau has more power-play points, with 18 to McDavid’s 15. Both guys have three game-winners. Neither player shoots enough, considering they have the puck a ton. Gaudreau has 136 shots, McDavid 146.