The Montreal Canadiens roll into their Western Canadian roadtrip on a five-game winning streak as they first battle with the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers aren't a happy group entering this game, as they are coming off a blowout loss at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks. For a team with heavy Stanley Cup aspirations, Edmonton is sputtering at the most inopportune time, losing seven of their last ten games. The Oilers should be nailing down the final piece of their contending team at the trade deadline, but instead they're left with more questions than answers.
How to Watch Montreal Canadiens vs. Edmonton Oilers
Date: Thursday, March 6, 2025
Time: 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT
Venue: Rogers Place
How to Watch: Sportsnet West, TSN2, FuboTV
One of the main questions for the Oilers is the state of their goaltending. Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard combined for a 2.93 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage this season. It's unclear whether Skinner has what it takes to lead this team to a Stanley Cup, and one of their main trade deadline targets, John Gibson, left last night's game with an injury.
They'll also need some of their top offensive players to wake up, as Leon Draisaitl leads the team with seven points over the past five games. Connor McDavid has five assists over the same span. Those would be acceptable numbers for most any team, but not for the Oilers and their stars. Contrast those numbers with the production Montreal is getting from their top players and there's a massive difference.
Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield have been carrying the team on their backs since the break. The Canadiens are 5-0, and Suzuki has four goals and nine assists. Caufield also added four goals to that total.
The Canadiens will have a good test on this Western Canadian roadtrip and this will be the most important. If Montreal upsets Edmonton in this game, it'd be challenging to sell all their pending UFAs at Friday's deadline. If they lose and look like the team everyone expected them to be, we could see a few extra moves tomorr