Connor McDavid’s game face: Definitely on.
Not that it isn’t any given game day, but it’s the top-ranked Winnipeg Jets visiting Rogers Place Thursday night (7 p.m.)
And while the star captain of the Edmonton Oilers acknowledged Thursday after the morning skate the Jets “will be a good test” for his team, the hosts are no slouches, either, even though they’d recently endured their most-brutal jag of the season.
“We view ourselves as a great team in here,” McDavid told reporters. “We’re not coming in here feeling like the underdog or anything like that. We expect to win games no matter who the opponent is.”
That confidence is well-earned, of course. McDavid, who sits fourth in league scoring with 89 points, is often called the best hockey player in the world who happens to lead a team that fell just shy of a Stanley Cup championship last June.
The Oilers have won their last three games after going 4-6-1 coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break. They sit second in the Pacific Division, two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights, who have a game in hand heading into Thursday’s action.
It’s the first game between the Oilers and the Jets since Winnipeg’s season-opening, 6-0 shellacking of Edmonton en route to a torrid 15-1 start to the 2024-25 season.
Thursday night’s showdown, though, could be a larger challenge for McDavid & Co., given his usual partner-in-goalie-mortifying-crime and Oilers leading scorer is expected to miss the matchup against the Jets.
Leon Draisaitl, the star centre who has 101 points and is one goal shy of his fourth career 50-goal NHL campaign, is doubtful to play. It would be the first game he’s missed this season.
“(He’s) just been so consistent, that’s the main thing,” McDavid said of his sometimes-linemate and regular power-play accomplice. “He’s always had great years, he’s always had big point totals and all that, but he’s just solid all over – reliable defensively, controlling the play when he’s out there. He’s been great.”
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said the team is “definitely being cautious” with Draisaitl, whose ailment is undisclosed but who collided with Utah’s Nick Schmaltz in Tuesday’s 7-1 Oilers win and briefly appeared to be in pain before returning to the game.
“We want 100 per cent from Leon when he’s healthy, and this is something we do not want it to linger,” Knoblauch told media. “Same thing we treated with (Mattias) Ekholm, something that he probably could have played through. The time off benefitted him lots.”
Ekholm, who plays on the Oilers' top defensive pairing, returned to action Tuesday after missing six games with an injury.
Projected lineups
Oilers
Forward
- Jeff Skinner • Connor McDavid • Zach Hyman
- Corey Perry • Leon Draisaitl • Connor Brown
- Vasily Podkolzin • Ryan Nugent-Hopkins • Viktor Arvidsson
- Mattias Janmark • Adam Henrique • Kasperi Kapanen
Defence
- Mattias Ekholm • Evan Bouchard
- Darnell Nurse • Jake Walman
- Brett Kulak • Ty Emberson
Goal
- Stuart Skinner • Calvin Pickard
Jets
Forward
- Kyle Connor • Mark Scheifele • Gabriel Vilardi
- Nikolaj Ehlers • Vladislav Namestnikov • Cole Perfetti
- Nino Niederreiter • Adam Lowry • Mason Appleton
- Brandon Tanev • Morgan Barron • Alex Iafallo
Defence
- Josh Morrissey • Dylan DeMelo
- Dylan Samberg • Luke Schenn
- Haydn Fleury • Colin Miller
Goal
- Connor Hellebuyck • Eric Comrie
