The Battle of Alberta will feature two teams riding hot streaks on Sunday night at Rogers Place.
The Edmonton Oilers have won five of their last six while the Calgary Flames are 6-0-1 in their last seven.
“They play to their identity,” said Oilers head coach Ken Hitchcock of the Flames. “They — and probably Winnipeg — are the two teams that make you pay for puck errors. Their anticipation on 50-50 pucks is as good as anybody in the National Hockey League. They sniff out when you’re going to make a mistake or you’re going to get careless, and they’re gone.”
The Oilers are coming off a 7-2 win over Minnesota on Friday. Jujhar Khaira had two assists to stretch his point streak to four games.
“This game comes down to confidence. I think I got back to what made me successful. The biggest part of my game is getting in on the forecheck and making room for other guys,” said Khaira.
The Flames beat the Oilers 4-2 on Nov. 17 in a game that featured several fights and scrums. The Oilers feel they were pulled off their game by some of the Flames agitators.
“You have to play through stuff. Some of it’s nasty and some it’s hard, but you have to play through it,” said Hitchcock. “If you allow yourself to be distracted against good teams like Calgary, they’re going to beat you every time.”
The Oilers’ expected lineup is:
Draisaitl – McDavid – Chiasson
Khaira – Nugent-Hopkins – Puljujarvi
Zykov – Spooner – Rattie
Lucic – Brodziak – Kassian
Klefbom – Larsson
Nurse – Russell
Gravel – Benning
Koskinen
The Oilers and Flames are on 630 CHED with the Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The game starts at 7 p.m.
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