The streaking Edmonton Oilers look for their ninth victory in 10 games when they battle the host Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
Connor McDavid had an assist to extend his point streak to 13 games in the Oilers’ 5-2 road win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
The superstar captain has nine goals and 12 assists during the point streak. This is his third point streak this season of at least 10 games.
Warren Foegele, who was a healthy scratch in Edmonton’s last game before the All-Star break, scored two goals against the Red Wings.
“I’m very happy with Warren,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “He didn’t play in the last game because we went with 11 (forwards) and seven (defensemen). We didn’t want him to be out of the lineup for long, and he played a great game tonight. It’s one of the best games I’ve seen from him.”
Goaltender Jack Campbell also was stellar after recording a 30-save performance. Campbell is 7-0-0 in his last seven starts.
“Jack made some big saves, but I would say he expects to make those saves and we expect him to make them,” Woodcroft said. “He’s starting to build a little personal momentum for himself.”
The Oilers started their post All-Star break four-game road trip in a positive way. They’ll look to keep that momentum rolling when they visit the Flyers.
“We wanted to continue where we left off and Detroit came out and played a really strong game,” Campbell said. “This is a great building to play in and we came away with two big points, so it’s a great way to start the road trip.”
The Flyers played a near flawless game in a 4-0 victory on the road against the Winnipeg Jets before the All-Star break.
But they were not as successful in what would end up being a 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders in the first game following the break on Monday.
Nicolas Deslauriers scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who looked flat for long stretches despite the close outcome.
Goaltender Carter Hart made 28 saves and single-handedly kept the Flyers within striking distance.
Outspoken head coach John Tortorella voiced his displeasure overall in the postgame news conference.
“It was men against boys in the first period,” Tortorella said. “Played better in the second. We had a lot of almost chances. I thought we were a little sloppy offensively. … Just a lot of almost offensively. We’re going to find out about some people, when we play some games here, in the checking department.
“Teams are going to ramp that up. It’s going to be really interesting to see how guys react.”
The Flyers have been besieged with injuries all season to key players such as Ryan Ellis, Sean Couturier and now Zack MacEwen with a broken jaw.
Even with a number of talented young players, the Flyers have been inconsistent all season.
“We knew what type of matchup it was,” James van Riemsdyk said. “Obviously, I think the start of the game wasn’t what we needed, but I think we did some good things as the game went along. Obviously, came up short. Not good enough.”
–Field Level Media