Edmonton Oilers (5-8-1) @

New Jersey Devils (9-4-1)

Prudential Center - Newark, NJ

5 PM MDT

TV: Sportsnet West

Radio: 630 CHED

SB Nation Opponent: All About The Jersey

The Oilers can pull within two games of a Bettman .500 with a victory in New Jersey tonight. That doesn’t sound very impressive, let me write that again. We’re running late? Oh. Anyways, that.

THE OILERS WILL WIN IF

• Cam Talbot is his old familiar self again. A good way to win is when your goaltender stops everything (or close to it). Talbot was a wall against the Islanders on Tuesday night, turning aside 36 of 37 Islander shots.
• The PK is O.K. Edmonton went 3/3 on the PK versus the Islanders. They’re due to regress towards the norm a little bit from their 31st overall PK ranking. Hopefully.
• New Jersey Keeps Sliding - Devils are on a mini slump (okay, it’s a little bigger than a mini-slump) going 0-2-1 in their last three games. Their latest misstep is a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Is this the time for New Jersey to slide towards the middle of the pack?

NEW JERSEY WILL WIN IF

• They can take advantage of special teams - Edmonton looks to be putting it back together on the PK I(well, they were better than most games against the Islanders) but they still post a woeful PK under 70%. (!) If the Devils can cash on the power play, they’ll be in line to put a hurting on Edmonton.
• Kyle Palmieri can step right back in the lineup - Palmieri had missed the last six games with a lower-body injury. The Devils’ offence will get an instant jolt with Palmieri back.
• The Hall line gets it going - The aforementioned Palmieri will be alongside Nico Hischier and Taylor Hall. Drew Stafford is relegated to the second line.

Oilers need another win tonight against New Jersey tonight. Can they do again what they did just six nights ago?