Game day: Leafs at Oilers

ROGERS PLACE PUCK DROP: 9 p.m. TV: TSN RADIO: Sportsnet 590 The FAN

KEY PLAYERS

Kadri/McDavid It’s likely Nazem Kadri draws the checking assignment against Connor

McDavid, and we’ll see if there’s any repeat of the rough ride Kadri gave the young Oilers star last year. Kadri has a way of getting under the skin of the best players. McDavid can handle the rough stuff, though; the Oilers are coming off a win over Boston last weekend where Zdeno Chara was in an extra snarly mood and took a lot of it out on McDavid. Kadri and the Leafs opening their three-game, western road swing with a win over Calgary.

NEED TO KNOW

Edmonton has won three of its last four games, which is a sign the club might be climbing out of its seasonlong struggles. They Oilers, who had 103 points last season, won in overtime over Arizona on Tuesday, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scoring the winner. That gave a team that was expected to be one of the top teams in the West consecutive wins for the first time this season. Entering the game, Edmonton had been 1-10-0 when trailing after two periods. . . . McDavid has been held pointless in two of his last three games and hasn’t scored in five . . . Edmonton goaltender Cam Talbot has been the target of critics for an up-and-down first quarter of the season, including a couple of stretches where he lost three games in a row. And just when it looked like he was turning things around — he has won his last three starts while raising his save percentage to .903 — he reportedly has an upper-body injury and might not be able to play against the Leafs . . . It will be important for the Oilers to score the game’s first goal; they have allowed the first goal 17 times this season, which helps explain their 10-13-2 start.

UP NEXT Saturday, at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Mark Zwolinski