Oilers aim to build on dominant end of previous game as Red Wings visit

Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid (97) keeps ahead of Buffalo Sabres Zach Benson (6) during second period NHL action in Edmonton, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025.

Of course they want more of the same from the end of their last game.

The Edmonton Oilers want to come out on Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings the same way they played in the third period of Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

That is, dominantly (until they gave up the winning goal in overtime, but for 20 minutes and 32-1/2 seconds before that, they were golden. Anyway…)

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Head coach Kris Knoblauch said Thursday after the Oilers’ morning skate he simply wants to “try and get more of that out of our guys.”

‘That’ was Connor McDavid kickstarting Tuesday’s almost-comeback with a goal 10 seconds into the third period, a frame in which the Oilers doubled the visiting Sabres in shots. Goals by Vasily Podkolzin and McDavid again followed, the latter coming with one second remaining.

“We know we can score three goals in a period, and I think we weren’t satisfied with how we played to that point, so it was time to wake up,” Oilers forward Zach Hyman said Thursday, hours before the 7 p.m. game against Detroit.

Knoblauch said while his team “did a lot of good things” in the first period against the Sabres, they failed to capitalize on scoring chances before sagging in the second while Buffalo ran up the score to 3-0 after 40 minutes.

“I don’t think we had the attack mentality,” he said. “We didn’t give up very much. I thought we had some good opportunities in the offensive zone to take it to the net, and I think we just passed up those opportunities, and we didn’t really generate as much as we should have.”

The Red Wings, like the Sabres two days earlier, are coming into Edmonton 24 hours after playing in Calgary, where Alex DeBrincat’s two goals paced them to a 4-3 win over the Flames.

Trio to injured reserve

The Oilers placed defenceman Jake Walman on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) on Thursday while also putting forwards Jack Roslovic and Connor Clattenburg on the injured reserve (IR) list. LITR requires a player to be out of action due to injury for 24 days and 10 games, while IR requires a player on it to be out of a team’s lineup for at least seven days.

When a team places a player on LTIR, it allows it to exceed the salary cap by the same amount as the player makes in order to call up a replacement who earns the same amount or less.

The Oilers called up forward Max Jones from their minor-league affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif., in the wake of the injured-reserve moves.

Walman, who last played Nov. 20, and Roslovic, whose last appearance was on Nov. 25, are dealing with undisclosed injuries. Clattenberg apparently suffered an eye injury on Dec. 4 in a 4-0 win over the Seattle Kraken.

Projected Oilers lineup

Forward

• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins • Connor McDavid • Zach Hyman
• Vasily Podkolzin • Leon Draisaitl • Matt Savoie
• Andrew Mangiapane • Adam Henrique • Mattias Janmark
• Trent Frederic • Curtis Lazar • David Tomasek

Defence

• Mattias Ekholm • Evan Bouchard
• Darnell Nurse • Alec Regula
• Brett Kulak • Ty Emberson

Goal

• Stuart Skinner • Calvin Pickard