<p>Through their first two games of the season, the <a href="http://oilersnation.com/stats">Edmonton Oilers</a> have been outstanding defensively. They&#8217;ve allowed a league-low 18.5 shots against per game, they&#8217;re top three in high danger chances against, and they&#8217;re sixth in goals against at 2.0/game. They haven&#8217;t given up much, while their opponent tonight, the New York Rangers, has only allowed five goals in their four games.</p>
<p>It is an extremely small sample size, but this might be a low-event hockey game based on both teams&#8217; early-season play.</p>
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<p></p>
<p>The Rangers have had an odd start to the season.</p>
<p>They&#8217;ve been shutout in both of their home games, losing their season opener 3-0 to Pittsburgh (Penguins scored two empty net goals), and they lost 1-0 to Washington this past Saturday. In between, the Rangers won two road games, beating Buffalo 4-0 and Pittsburgh 6-1. In their four games, the losing team has scored a total of one goal, and only once did the winning team score more than one goal with a goalie in net.</p>
<p>They&#8217;ve been the epitome of low-event hockey.</p>
<p>Now add in the Oilers’ defensive prowess, and tonight has the potential to be quite tedious.</p>
<p>In Saturday&#8217;s <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/12/the-day-after-2-0-edmonton-oilers-lose-streets-beat-vancouver-canucks-scoresheet/">victory over the Canucks</a>, the Oilers played the best defensive game I can remember them playing. Vancouver had ZERO high-danger chances. <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/11/calvin-pickard-start-edmonton-oilers-in-second-game-season-against-vancouver-canucks/">Calvin Pickard</a> had one of the easiest games of his career. Vancouver isn&#8217;t a high-power offensive team, but limiting any NHL team to zero HD chances is impressive. The Oilers didn&#8217;t give up many shots in preseason and that has continued into the regular season. They will try to continue that tonight in MSG, where they have won their last three meetings.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the Rangers have been rather stingy themselves, although their goalies have been tested a bit more as the Rangers have allowed 27 shots/game and twice as many high-danger/chances per game, but Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick have been excellent in goal. Shesterkin has stopped 83 of 85 shots, while Quick stopped 20 of 21 in his lone start. Granted, the Penguins and Sabres aren&#8217;t exactly world beaters, but the Ranger goalies have only allowed three total goals in four games. Highly impressive.</p>
<p>And while the Oilers’ defensive game has been great, their offensive game at 5&#215;5 has lacked finish. The Oilers rank 31st in goals for/60 at only 1.3. They have two 5&#215;5 goals through six games coming off the stick of Andrew Mangiapane and Noah Philp, and Philp isn&#8217;t playing tonight.</p>
<p>Of course, it is extremely early in the season, and this is the ultimate &#8220;small sample size&#8221; discussion, but under Kris Knoblauch the Oilers’ defensive structure has improved significantly and early on this season it has been their best thus far.</p>
<h1>SNAPSHOTS&#8230;</h1>
<p>&#8212; The Oilers have three points in four games, despite Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid combining for zero goals 5&#215;5. Over the previous three seasons, McDavid was third in 5&#215;5 points at 182, while Draisaitl was seventh with 159. They will produce, and they each have three points in two games, so it&#8217;s not like they are struggling, but it is rare when they play together at 5&#215;5 that they don&#8217;t produce.</p>
<p>&#8212; Andrew Mangiapane scored his second goal in as many games in his 500th career game on Saturday. He&#8217;s had a great start and tonight he will skate on the right wing with Draisaitl and McDavid. Mangiapane has only taken two shots this season, but he&#8217;s scored on both. The rest of the forwards have two goals on 49 shots. As a team the Oilers rank 31st in 5&#215;5 shooting percentage at 4.26%.</p>
<p>&#8212; Last season the Oilers ranked 27th in 5&#215;5 SH% at 7.95% and they were 26th in all situations at 9.87. It is an area they&#8217;d like to improve.</p>
<p>&#8212; <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/14/jack-roslovic-edmonton-oilers-debut-andrew-mangiapane-elevated-top-line-jake-walman-set-to-return/">Jack Roslovic will make his Oilers’ debut</a> tonight on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Matt Savoie. Savoie will play his off wing and line up on left wing. It is interesting to see McDavid’s line having three left shots, while RNH&#8217;s line has two right-shot wingers. I&#8217;m sure we will see Knoblauch try some different combinations on this road trip. It makes sense not to start Roslovic on the top line, and then if it doesn&#8217;t work move him down. It can be better to move guys &#8220;up&#8221; the lineup, rather than moving them down, because human nature will have the player feel like he didn&#8217;t perform well. Mangiapane has already scored twice, so he&#8217;ll feel like this is a promotion.</p>
<p>&#8212; <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/13/edmonton-oilers-thoughts-frederic-tomasek-opportunities-early-impressions-mangiapane-regula/">Alec Regula</a> won&#8217;t play tonight or Thursday but is expected to return on the weekend. He got rocked by Evander Kane on a clean hit late in the third. He had his head down. Earlier in the game, Kane hit him face first into the boards, on what was a borderline penalty, but Kane&#8217;s second hit was hard and clean. Regula will need to be more aware of who he&#8217;s on the ice against. You have to be aware of certain players, like Kane, or they can rock you.</p>
<p>&#8212; <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/09/oilers-place-defenceman-jake-walman-on-injured-reserve/">Jake Walman</a> is expected to make his season debut on Thursday according to Kris Knoblauch, and Mattias Janmark should return on the weekend. The Oilers will activate Walman on Thursday, and put Regula on IR retroactive to last Saturday, and that will give them two extra days before they make a roster move. But if all three return on the weekend, and no other player gets injured, the Oilers will have to make two roster moves. Curtis Lazar hasn&#8217;t played a game yet, so he could be one, but <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/14/edmonton-oilers-isaac-howard-would-benefit-from-some-minutes-ahl/">Isaac Howard</a> might also be an option. He&#8217;s averaged 10:30/game through two games. He hasn&#8217;t looked out of place, but he doesn&#8217;t require waivers, and the Oilers will have to decide if playing 10 minutes/game in the NHL is better than 20 minutes/night in the AHL.</p>
<h1 class="border-b-accent text-accent mb-5 border-b-2 text-3xl font-bold">LINEUPS…</h1>
<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold"><a class="text-accent" href="https://oilersnation.com/combinations">Oilers…</a></h2>
<div class="mb-5">Draisaitl-McDavid-Mangiapane<br />
Savoie-RNH-Roslovic<br />
Podkolzin-Frederic-Kapanen<br />
Howard-Henrique-Tomášek</div>
<div></div>
<div class="mb-5">Ekholm-Bouchard<br />
Nurse-Stecher<br />
Kulak-Emberson</div>
<div></div>
<div class="mb-5">Skinner</div>
<div></div>
<div>The top three lines look different as Mangiapane moves up to first line, Frederic will centre the third line and Roslovic makes his Oilers’ debut on the second line. Scratching Noah Philp, after he scored his first NHL goal, is a bit surprising. When interviewed on the broadcast, Philp mentioned he didn&#8217;t really like his game up until he scored, so I&#8217;d guess the coach is looking at that more than the goal. If you are wondering why Adam Henrique is in over Philp, it&#8217;s because he is on the penalty kill. He&#8217;s played the second-most PK time in two games and is tied with Leon Draisaitl for the most faceoffs.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Speaking of Draisaitl and PK faceoffs, I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;m not enamoured by using McDavid and Draisaitl on the PK as much as they have been. I don&#8217;t think it is ideal if Draisaitl is your most used PK forward all season, while McDavid is third. I know it is only two games, but as the season progresses, their PK time should diminish. It would be okay if they average 50-60 seconds/game on the PK, but two minutes/game (37 forwards averaged that last season) is too much for those two.</div>
<div>
<h2><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/new-york-rangers/line-combinations"><strong>Rangers&#8230;</strong></a></h2>
<p>Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafrenière<br />
Cuylle-Miller-Sheary<br />
Brodzinski-Laba-Raddysh<br />
Edström-Carrick-Rempe</p>
<p>Gavrikov-Fox<br />
Robertson-Borgen<br />
Vaakanainen-Schneider</p>
<p>Shersterkin</p>
<div>The Rangers have only allowed three goals (plus two empty net goals) in their first four games, but Shesterkin leads the NHL at 4.55 goals saved above expected. He&#8217;s had a great start. The Rangers rank 12th in expected goals against and ninth in high danger chances, but when they give up one it&#8217;s a doozy. Shesterkin is the main reason their GAA is so low through four games. Defenseman Adam Fox is off to a great start with three goals in four games.</div>
<h1>TONIGHT&#8230;</h1>
<figure id="attachment_182182" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-182182" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-182182" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GDB-3-1024x819.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="819" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GDB-3-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GDB-3-300x240.jpg 300w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GDB-3-768x614.jpg 768w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GDB-3-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GDB-3.jpg 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-182182" class="wp-caption-text">Photoshop by Tom Kostiuk</figcaption></figure>
<div><strong>GAME DAY PREDICTION:</strong> Oilers win their fourth in a row at MSG and skate away with a 4-2 victory.</div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION:</strong> McDavid extends his point streak against the Rangers to six games.</div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: </strong>Andrew Mangiapane scores in his third-consecutive game.</div>
<div></div>
<div>He joins Thomas McMurchy as the only players in Oilers history to score a goal their first three games with the club. McMurchy did it during the 1987/1988 season and he was actually the first Oiler to score in his first two games. He scored in New Jersey on Halloween night in 1987, then scored two goals the next night at MSG v. the Rangers, and three days later he scored against the Rangers again in Edmonton. Wild stuff.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Only seven other Oilers have scored in their first two games:</div>
<div>Derick Brassard in 2021/22.<br />
Taylor Fedun in 2013/14.<br />
Boyd Gordon in 2013/14.<br />
Vladimir Vorobiev in 1998/99.<br />
Rem Murray in 1996/97.<br />
David Oliver in 1994/95.<br />
Peter Eriksson in 1989/90.</div>
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<h2><strong>ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365</strong></h2>
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Through their first two games of the season, the <a href="http://oilersnation.com/stats">Edmonton Oilers</a> have been outstanding defensively. They've allowed a league-low 18.5 shots against per game, they're top three in high danger chances against, and they're sixth in goals against at 2.0/game. They haven't given up much, while their opponent tonight, the New York Rangers, has only allowed five goals in their four games.

It is an extremely small sample size, but this might be a low-event hockey game based on both teams' early-season play.
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The Rangers have had an odd start to the season.

They've been shutout in both of their home games, losing their season opener 3-0 to Pittsburgh (Penguins scored two empty net goals), and they lost 1-0 to Washington this past Saturday. In between, the Rangers won two road games, beating Buffalo 4-0 and Pittsburgh 6-1. In their four games, the losing team has scored a total of one goal, and only once did the winning team score more than one goal with a goalie in net.

They've been the epitome of low-event hockey.

Now add in the Oilers’ defensive prowess, and tonight has the potential to be quite tedious.

In Saturday's <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/12/the-day-after-2-0-edmonton-oilers-lose-streets-beat-vancouver-canucks-scoresheet/">victory over the Canucks</a>, the Oilers played the best defensive game I can remember them playing. Vancouver had ZERO high-danger chances. <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/11/calvin-pickard-start-edmonton-oilers-in-second-game-season-against-vancouver-canucks/">Calvin Pickard</a> had one of the easiest games of his career. Vancouver isn't a high-power offensive team, but limiting any NHL team to zero HD chances is impressive. The Oilers didn't give up many shots in preseason and that has continued into the regular season. They will try to continue that tonight in MSG, where they have won their last three meetings.

Meanwhile the Rangers have been rather stingy themselves, although their goalies have been tested a bit more as the Rangers have allowed 27 shots/game and twice as many high-danger/chances per game, but Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick have been excellent in goal. Shesterkin has stopped 83 of 85 shots, while Quick stopped 20 of 21 in his lone start. Granted, the Penguins and Sabres aren't exactly world beaters, but the Ranger goalies have only allowed three total goals in four games. Highly impressive.

And while the Oilers’ defensive game has been great, their offensive game at 5x5 has lacked finish. The Oilers rank 31st in goals for/60 at only 1.3. They have two 5x5 goals through six games coming off the stick of Andrew Mangiapane and Noah Philp, and Philp isn't playing tonight.

Of course, it is extremely early in the season, and this is the ultimate "small sample size" discussion, but under Kris Knoblauch the Oilers’ defensive structure has improved significantly and early on this season it has been their best thus far.
<h1>SNAPSHOTS...</h1>
--- The Oilers have three points in four games, despite Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid combining for zero goals 5x5. Over the previous three seasons, McDavid was third in 5x5 points at 182, while Draisaitl was seventh with 159. They will produce, and they each have three points in two games, so it's not like they are struggling, but it is rare when they play together at 5x5 that they don't produce.

--- Andrew Mangiapane scored his second goal in as many games in his 500th career game on Saturday. He's had a great start and tonight he will skate on the right wing with Draisaitl and McDavid. Mangiapane has only taken two shots this season, but he's scored on both. The rest of the forwards have two goals on 49 shots. As a team the Oilers rank 31st in 5x5 shooting percentage at 4.26%.

--- Last season the Oilers ranked 27th in 5x5 SH% at 7.95% and they were 26th in all situations at 9.87. It is an area they'd like to improve.

--- <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/14/jack-roslovic-edmonton-oilers-debut-andrew-mangiapane-elevated-top-line-jake-walman-set-to-return/">Jack Roslovic will make his Oilers’ debut</a> tonight on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Matt Savoie. Savoie will play his off wing and line up on left wing. It is interesting to see McDavid’s line having three left shots, while RNH's line has two right-shot wingers. I'm sure we will see Knoblauch try some different combinations on this road trip. It makes sense not to start Roslovic on the top line, and then if it doesn't work move him down. It can be better to move guys "up" the lineup, rather than moving them down, because human nature will have the player feel like he didn't perform well. Mangiapane has already scored twice, so he'll feel like this is a promotion.

--- <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/13/edmonton-oilers-thoughts-frederic-tomasek-opportunities-early-impressions-mangiapane-regula/">Alec Regula</a> won't play tonight or Thursday but is expected to return on the weekend. He got rocked by Evander Kane on a clean hit late in the third. He had his head down. Earlier in the game, Kane hit him face first into the boards, on what was a borderline penalty, but Kane's second hit was hard and clean. Regula will need to be more aware of who he's on the ice against. You have to be aware of certain players, like Kane, or they can rock you.

--- <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/09/oilers-place-defenceman-jake-walman-on-injured-reserve/">Jake Walman</a> is expected to make his season debut on Thursday according to Kris Knoblauch, and Mattias Janmark should return on the weekend. The Oilers will activate Walman on Thursday, and put Regula on IR retroactive to last Saturday, and that will give them two extra days before they make a roster move. But if all three return on the weekend, and no other player gets injured, the Oilers will have to make two roster moves. Curtis Lazar hasn't played a game yet, so he could be one, but <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/10/14/edmonton-oilers-isaac-howard-would-benefit-from-some-minutes-ahl/">Isaac Howard</a> might also be an option. He's averaged 10:30/game through two games. He hasn't looked out of place, but he doesn't require waivers, and the Oilers will have to decide if playing 10 minutes/game in the NHL is better than 20 minutes/night in the AHL.
<h1 class="border-b-accent text-accent mb-5 border-b-2 text-3xl font-bold">LINEUPS…</h1>
<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold"><a class="text-accent" href="https://oilersnation.com/combinations">Oilers…</a></h2>
<div class="mb-5">Draisaitl-McDavid-Mangiapane
Savoie-RNH-Roslovic
Podkolzin-Frederic-Kapanen
Howard-Henrique-Tomášek</div>
<div></div>
<div class="mb-5">Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Stecher
Kulak-Emberson</div>
<div></div>
<div class="mb-5">Skinner</div>
<div></div>
<div>The top three lines look different as Mangiapane moves up to first line, Frederic will centre the third line and Roslovic makes his Oilers’ debut on the second line. Scratching Noah Philp, after he scored his first NHL goal, is a bit surprising. When interviewed on the broadcast, Philp mentioned he didn't really like his game up until he scored, so I'd guess the coach is looking at that more than the goal. If you are wondering why Adam Henrique is in over Philp, it's because he is on the penalty kill. He's played the second-most PK time in two games and is tied with Leon Draisaitl for the most faceoffs.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Speaking of Draisaitl and PK faceoffs, I'm not sure I'm not enamoured by using McDavid and Draisaitl on the PK as much as they have been. I don't think it is ideal if Draisaitl is your most used PK forward all season, while McDavid is third. I know it is only two games, but as the season progresses, their PK time should diminish. It would be okay if they average 50-60 seconds/game on the PK, but two minutes/game (37 forwards averaged that last season) is too much for those two.</div>
<div>
<h2><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/new-york-rangers/line-combinations"><strong>Rangers...</strong></a></h2>
Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Miller-Sheary
Brodzinski-Laba-Raddysh
Edström-Carrick-Rempe

Gavrikov-Fox
Robertson-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Schneider

Shersterkin
<div>The Rangers have only allowed three goals (plus two empty net goals) in their first four games, but Shesterkin leads the NHL at 4.55 goals saved above expected. He's had a great start. The Rangers rank 12th in expected goals against and ninth in high danger chances, but when they give up one it's a doozy. Shesterkin is the main reason their GAA is so low through four games. Defenseman Adam Fox is off to a great start with three goals in four games.</div>
<h1>TONIGHT...</h1>
[caption id="attachment_182182" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="size-large wp-image-182182" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GDB-3-1024x819.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="819" /> Photoshop by Tom Kostiuk[/caption]

<div><strong>GAME DAY PREDICTION:</strong> Oilers win their fourth in a row at MSG and skate away with a 4-2 victory.</div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION:</strong> McDavid extends his point streak against the Rangers to six games.</div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: </strong>Andrew Mangiapane scores in his third-consecutive game.</div>
<div></div>
<div>He joins Thomas McMurchy as the only players in Oilers history to score a goal their first three games with the club. McMurchy did it during the 1987/1988 season and he was actually the first Oiler to score in his first two games. He scored in New Jersey on Halloween night in 1987, then scored two goals the next night at MSG v. the Rangers, and three days later he scored against the Rangers again in Edmonton. Wild stuff.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Only seven other Oilers have scored in their first two games:</div>
<div>Derick Brassard in 2021/22.
Taylor Fedun in 2013/14.
Boyd Gordon in 2013/14.
Vladimir Vorobiev in 1998/99.
Rem Murray in 1996/97.
David Oliver in 1994/95.
Peter Eriksson in 1989/90.</div>

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