Thursday NHL Preview: Chicago vs. Edmonton

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Thursday NHL Preview: Chicago vs. Edmonton

The Blackhawks and the Oilers are notorious for playing great games and it should be no different on Thursday night when these two teams do battle.

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The Blackhawks doubled up the Oilers 6-3 in their first matchup, but were routed 9-2 in their first trip to Rexall Place and edged 4-3 in the most recent game on Jan. 2. Edmonton is led by Jordan Eberle's 2 goals and 8 points, followed in the scoring column by Taylor Hall (4-2-6) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (0-6-6).

This game suddenly means a lot more to the Blackhawks than merely trying to put the Oilers back in their place. In losing their last three games, Chicago has fallen from the top of the Western Conference standings to sixth place, while being passed in the Central Division by Detroit, Nashville and St. Louis. The Hawks lost in overtime to the Canucks to begin a nine-game road trip that consists almost entirely of teams already in the playoff picture or battling for a spot, so taking advantage of an Edmonton squad that is double digits out of eighth is paramount.

On the bright side, Chicago got captain Jonathan Toews and fellow top forward Patrick Sharp back in the lineup and can feel good about the fact it could have won Tuesday's game in Vancouver and probably would have if not for the goaltending heroics of Cory Schneider, who stopped 37 shots. The Blackhawks led briefly after Viktor Stalberg put them ahead 1:17 into the third period, but Cody Hodgson evened the score less than three minutes later and Daniel Sedin's goal 3:37 into overtime sent them to a 3-2 defeat.

It appears likely Edmonton will spend the final months of the season playing the spoiler role -- if that's the case, it suited the Oilers well on Tuesday as they recorded a 3-2 victory against an Avalanche team on the fringe of the playoff race. Eberle and Eric Belanger staked the home team to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, Hall scored the eventual game-winner in the third and Devan Dubnyk continued to stake his claim toward more playing time and perhaps the No. 1 job down the stretch with a 31-save performance.

The Oilers maybe out of the hunt for the playoffs without a come from behind miracle, but they love to play well against Chicago.