The Edmonton Oilers enjoyed a strong start to the season despite some significant hiccups.
Let's take a moment to recap how the team fared last week before diving into this week's action.
How did the Oilers do last week?
The Oilers started their season off with a 6-5 loss to the Vancouver Canucks; that game saw the team rally from three separate deficits, one of which saw the team down 5-2 with five minutes gone in the third period. While the Oilers were able to rescue a point from that contest, the kind of opening performance that they put together isn't exactly one that sends the fans home happy, regardless of the result.
The second leg of the home-and-home series wasn't any more positive than the opener, but the Oilers were able to secure a 9-7 win at Rogers Arena. The team followed that up with a closer contest against the Seattle Kraken, but one that still saw them pull off a 3-1 win.
Who are the Oilers playing this week?
The Oilers will be contesting two divisional games during this week's action. The first of the two games will take place on Wednesday and will see the Oilers contest a rematch of their 2026 first-round series with the Anaheim Ducks.
This game will be followed by a Saturday afternoon contest against the San Jose Sharks, who will be vying for a playoff spot this season after a stronger-than-anticipated 2025-26 campaign. This will also be the first time that the Oilers play the Sharks since the Darnell Nurse trade, which sent the longtime Oiler to San Jose in exchange for Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp.
What should fans expect from this week's action?
While the Oilers have scored at least three goals in each of the last three games, it is worth noting that one of the three goals in their last game against Seattle was an empty-netter. That shouldn't take away from the fact that the offense has started well, but the Kraken did well enough to keep the Oilers at bay for all but the final two minutes.
Even then, the Oilers will find themselves in a somewhat favorable position when it comes to their two contests this week.
Sure, the Ducks held a 4-0 at one point in their opener against the Vegas Golden Knights. But then they nearly blew said lead, only winning by a 4-3 margin when all was said and done. While they survived a contest with the Florida Panthers in relatively low-scoring fashion, they were outshot 31-20 by the Panthers. The Ducks were also outshot 30-20 by the Golden Knights; the third period of that contest saw them record just six shots on goal to Vegas' 13.
Meanwhile, the Sharks have shown that they are capable of scoring goals, but they've also conceded a handful of them through their opening three games. While the Sharks scored nine goals through their opening two contests, they were shut out 5-0 by the Dallas Stars in their most recent game. To add onto that latter point, the Sharks have conceded 12 goals through their opening four games of the season.
The Oilers should be well-positioned to put together another strong week offensively, but the goaltending and defensive effort will be another question. Against the Ducks, it will be a question of whether they can survive any early push from Anaheim and do enough on offense to make any late-game deficit relatively simple to manage. With regard to the Sharks, it will be a question of what kind of offense the Oilers get, especially given that Macklin Celebrini sustained a lower-body injury that forced his absence from his team's game against Dallas.
At worst, the Oilers should split this week's pair of games. We're talking about two revenge contests of sorts, which should only increase the energy on the part of the Oilers. And the offense is strong enough to at least get by against one of the Ducks and Sharks, though it's quite possible that the unit bests both outright.
Add us as a preferred source on Google