It’s a red hot power play against a cold penalty kill Saturday night at Rogers Place.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are at 42 per cent on the power play this season. The Edmonton Oilers penalty kill is struggling at 72 per cent.
“We’ve been talking about more pressure and getting quicker on it. Penalty killing is about the will to get the job done,” said Oilers head coach Dave Tippett, who wants to see his penalty killers do a better job of getting in shooting lanes.
“You get in a lane, there’s a good possibility you get hit with a puck. That hurts, but it hurts to win.”
It’s been a costly drop off on the PK for the Oilers, who last season were second in the NHL at 84.4 per cent.
“We know we can get back to that,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “You have to find your rhythm and get confidence on it.”
The Leafs scored two power play goals in the third period on Thursday to earn a 4-3 win.
The Oilers expected lineup is:
Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Puljujarvi
Kahun – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Neal – Turris – Kassian
Ennis – Shore – Archibald
Nurse – Bear
Jones – Larsson
Koekkoek – Barrie
Koskinen
The Oilers and Maple Leafs are on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 3:30 p.m. The game starts at 5 p.m.