OilersNation has reported:

The Edmonton Oilers face their first opponent from outside the Pacific Division this season when they host the Utah Mammoth tonight. Edmonton has started 5-0-1 against Pacific teams, and the matchup offers a test of how that record holds up against a team playing well early in the season. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Mountain Time and will be broadcast on SNW.

Utah is 5-2, including a 3-2 record on the road. The Mammoth won in Columbus, Buffalo and Columbus, and lost in Boston and to the New York Rangers. They have outscored opponents 27-19; Edmonton has scored 27 and allowed 18, including a 15-5 margin over its last four games.

Leon Draisaitl said Utah’s start makes the game a useful challenge for Edmonton. “They are playing well, and it will be a good challenge. They are off to a good start, they have a lot of talent and we are looking forward to tonight,” he said during a pre-game conversation.

The Oilers have tightened their defence over the past four games after two wide-open contests against Vancouver. They will try to slow Utah’s top two lines, which have been a prominent part of the Mammoth’s early-season play.

The question of Edmonton’s schedule has followed its strong opening. The team has played six Pacific Division opponents, and some observers have questioned whether that helps explain its 5-0-1 record. Last season, Edmonton was 16-7-3 against the Pacific, 12-7-5 against the Central, 7-7-1 against the Atlantic and 6-9-1 against the Metropolitan Division. It had more wins than losses only against the Pacific.

The Oilers’ records against the four divisions also varied in the two preceding seasons. In 2025, they went 15-10-1 against the Pacific, 17-6-1 against the Central, 8-6-2 against the Atlantic and 8-7-1 against the Metropolitan. In 2024, they were 18-8-0 against the Pacific, 12-8-4 against the Central, 8-6-2 against the Atlantic and 11-5-0 against the Metropolitan.

Across the past three seasons, Edmonton is 41-21-10 against Central Division teams. The additional ten wins came in 2025; over the other two seasons, the Oilers won 24 of 48 games against the Central. They are also 5-0-1 against the Mammoth since the franchise moved to Utah.

The source article challenges claims that the Pacific is weak by pointing to Vegas and Edmonton representing the Western Conference in each of the past four Stanley Cup Finals. It describes Calgary and Vancouver as weak teams and says Los Angeles might join them. It also asks how many dominant Metropolitan teams there are outside Carolina, while calling the Atlantic the league’s deepest division. Its preseason view was that Vegas, Edmonton, Colorado, Dallas and Carolina belonged among the six leading Stanley Cup contenders. Buffalo and Montreal had strong seasons last year, it says, while sustaining success over multiple seasons is more difficult than producing one good year.

Edmonton and Utah have met six times over the past two seasons. Each side received 13 power-play opportunities across those games, an average of 2.16 per game. Utah averaged the third-most times shorthanded in the NHL in 2025 and ranked ninth last season, yet the teams have not had many penalties called in their matchups, or Utah has not taken many penalties in them.

This season, Utah ranks fifth in times shorthanded at 3.86 per game, while Edmonton is tied for 20th at 3.17. The Oilers average 3.5 power-play opportunities per game, ranking 12th; Utah is fourth at 4.14. The Mammoth rank fourth in combined power plays per game at 8.00, behind Carolina at 8.13, Ottawa at 8.71 and Florida at 9.57. Edmonton averages 6.67.

Utah enters the game second in power-play percentage at 34.5 per cent. Edmonton is tied for seventh at 23.8 per cent. The Oilers rank 26th on the penalty kill at 73.7 per cent. They allowed five goals on their first nine penalty kills this season, then killed off their next eight.

The Mammoth are 25th on the penalty kill at 74.1 per cent and have been moving in the opposite direction. They killed their first nine penalties over their first three games, then allowed seven power-play goals on 18 kills across their next four. Utah beat Toronto 5-4 on Tuesday despite giving up two power-play goals. Edmonton needs to draw more than two penalties, the source article says; Utah has taken 18 in its last four games.

Edmonton set a franchise record in Los Angeles for the longest road winning streak to open a season and is 4-0 away from home. The NHL record is 11 games, set by the 2024 Los Angeles Kings. Seventeen franchises have had a longer road winning streak than four games, and 11 have put together streaks of at least five.

Centre Jason Dickinson tweaked his ankle during the morning skate and left the ice limping. His availability was uncertain. With Colton Dach and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins out, Mike Babcock has few centre options beyond Draisaitl if Dickinson cannot play. The source article raises the possibility of splitting up Edmonton’s dominant first line and says Trent Frederic and Filip Hallander could play centre if needed.

Utah tends to keep its forwards in pairs. Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz have played all but eight minutes together at five-on-five, while Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther have shared 71 of their 85 five-on-five minutes. Vincent Trocheck opened the season with Keller and Schmaltz, and Anders Lee played with Cooley and Guenther. Head coach Andre Tourigny moved Lawson Crouse onto the Keller-Schmaltz line over the past two games, with Trocheck joining Cooley and Guenther. Lee is now on the third line with Barrett Hayton and former Oiler Kailer Yamamoto.

Nine Mammoth forwards have scored five-on-five goals; Cooley has not. Schmaltz, Lee, Trocheck and Daniil But each have two, as does defenceman Mackenzie Weegar. Utah has 16 five-on-five goals in seven games. Edmonton has 19, scored by nine skaters, including six forwards. Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Shea have combined for eight goals from the blueline.

The Oilers lead the NHL in goals by defencemen with eight, all scored at five-on-five. Utah, Buffalo and Colorado each have six goals from defencemen. All six of Colorado’s came at five-on-five, compared with four for Utah and three for Buffalo. Mammoth defenceman Mikhail Sergachev has nine points, third among NHL defencemen behind Quinn Hughes with 10 and Bouchard with 14.

Edmonton’s listed forwards are Vasily Podkolzin, Connor McDavid and Draisaitl; Frederic, Dickinson and Kasperi Kapanen; Formenton, Michaels and Mathieu Joseph; and Hallander, Samanski and Howard. The listed defence pairs are Ekholm with Bouchard, Shea with Murphy, and Mukhamadullin with Emberson. Levi is the listed goaltender. Dickinson’s status could change the forward combinations.

The Oilers’ penalty kill has stopped eight straight chances, but the unit is still adjusting to its system. Connor Murphy said it differs from the approach he used in Chicago last year, where he played closer to the net and was told not to be aggressive. DJ Smith wants Edmonton’s penalty killers to be “uber aggressive,” Murphy said, adding that teams have tried the system but changed it after allowing wide-open goals or looks.

Murphy said the hardest part is reading where to cover when a teammate moves aggressively. More repetitions should make those decisions more instinctive, but the players are still getting comfortable with the approach. The recent run of eight successful kills has raised their confidence.

Utah’s listed forwards are Keller, Schmaltz and Crouse; Cooley, Trocheck and Guenther; Lee, Hayton and Yamamoto; and McBain, Stenlund and But. Sergachev and Weegar form one defence pair, Schmidt and Marino another, and Simashev and Peeke the third. Vejmelka is the listed goaltender. The source article says there are no lineup changes for the Mammoth.

Utah is expected to try to get the Sergachev-Weegar pairing onto the ice against McDavid’s line as often as possible. Babcock is not expected to shy away from that matchup, though the source article says it will be worth watching whether he uses last change at certain points to send McDavid against Utah’s second or third defence pair.

The game is the first of a home-and-away set between the teams. The source article predicts a 4-2 Edmonton win, expects both teams to score a power-play goal and names Joseph to score his first goal as an Oiler. The article is presented by bet365, and its accompanying photo is credited to Tom Kostiuk.