The Montreal Canadiens will put their five-game winning streak on the line when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
The Canadiens are commencing a four-game road trip against Western Conference foes after sweeping a home-and-home series with the Buffalo Sabres.
Mike Matheson extended the Canadiens’ winning streak when he scored the game-winning goal 1:21 into overtime in a 4-3 win over the Sabres on Monday.
After jumping to a 3-0 lead, Montreal allowed Buffalo to sneak back into the contest with three consecutive goals.
Captain Nick Suzuki continued his hot play with a goal and three assists in the hard-fought victory, bringing his total to 13 points (four goals, nine assists) across a five-game point streak.
“I’m playing with good players, we’re using each other well, the power play’s been good,” Suzuki said. “It’s nice when our line feels good and we’re doing things properly and getting rewarded for it. So it’s been fun lately, and we’re just trying to keep that going on the road.”
Rookie defenseman Lane Hutson continued to be dazzling with a pair of assists on Monday. He became the fastest defenseman in franchise history to reach the 50-point mark, taking just 63 games.
The current winning streak represents the first time Montreal has strung together five consecutive wins since Feb. 17-26, 2022.
Edmonton, however, has been trending in the opposite direction of late, collecting just one win over its previous seven outings.
The Oilers did bolster their lineup on Tuesday, though, as they acquired hard-hitting forward Trent Frederic from the Boston Bruins.
Frederic is a physical center who tallied a career-best 18 goals in 2023-24. He has struggled offensively this season, mustering just eight goals and 15 points in 57 games.
Frederic will not be in the lineup Thursday because he is sidelined with a lower-body injury.
The Oilers’ latest contest was an ignominious 6-2 defeat at home against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
Leon Draisaitl stretched his point streak to 12 games (10 goals, eight assists) with his league-leading 45th goal of the season just under 10 minutes into the contest. The Ducks, however, stormed back with four first-period goals en route to the victory.
“The first 10 minutes we controlled the game and came out with a lot of energy,” Oilers veteran forward Corey Perry said. “Then one mistake was in the back of our net, we can’t seem to get over that.”
“Then things just unraveled. It’s frustrating because we had a good start. We need to figure it out.”
Oilers superstar captain Connor McDavid extended his point streak to five games (one goal, five assists) with a third-period power-play goal.
Goaltending remained a point of contention for the Oilers on Tuesday as Calvin Pickard allowed four goals on 11 shots before being replaced by Stuart Skinner (14 saves) after the opening frame.
The Oilers have allowed at least four goals in each of their past six losses. Meanwhile, the Canadiens haven’t given up more than three in a contest throughout their winning streak.
–Field Level Media
