At times throughout November, the Edmonton Oilers have appeared to be stagnant. The team's longest winning-streak occured at the beginning of the month and that lasted two games; Since then, the Oilers either exchanged a win for a loss or suffered a minor losing-streak.
The frustration has Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli, especially after last season's playoff appearance showed what the team's potential.
"I’m disappointed as to where we are," said Chiarelli on Tuesday. "There are a number of areas. It’s a little bit of a death by a thousand cuts right now so when you’re patching up one area another area opens up. There are a lot of things that aren’t going right at this point and we’re trying to work our way through it."
Edmonton ended its five-game road-trip with a decisive victory over the Boston Bruins and have a chance to rapidly get back on the right path atop of the Pacific Division when they host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday.
The Coyotes started off their season in one of the most disasterous ways imaginable, with the team's first regulation win coming on Nov. 16. Since then Arizona has won four of its last six games. As they won, the team opted to call up a familiar face ahead of its matchup with Edmonton.
Forward Dylan Strome returns to the Coyotes lineup after a brief appearance in the American Hockey League.
After an underwhelming preseason that saw the former first-round selection record four points, Strome used his time in the AHL to regain his offensive prowess. Strome registered eight goals and 18 assists in 15 games for the Tucson Roadrunners this season. Now in his second stint with the Coyotes this season, Strome will stand opposite of his brother, Ryan, on Tuesday night.
"I've only played nine games in this league," Strome said . "This will be my 10th and two are against my brother. Funny how that works out, but obviously it's something you dream about when you're a kid. You dream about being on the same line, but obviously playing against him is pretty special.
Here's everything you need to know ahead of the Oilers' matchup:
Here is the Oilers' projected lineup:
Milan Lucic - Connor McDavid - Mike Cammalleri
Patrick Maroon - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Anton Slepyshev
Drake Caggiula - Leon Draisaitl - Ryan Strome
Iiro Pakarinen - Mark Letestu - Zack Kassian
Oscar Klefbom - Matt Benning
Darnell Nurse - Adam Larsson
Kris Russell - Eric Gryba
Talbot
Scratched: Brad Malone,
Injured: Andrej Sekera, Jujhar Khaira
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Here is the Coyotes' projected lineup:
Brendan Perlini - Derek Stepan - Tobias Rieder
Clayton Keller - Brad Richardson - Dylan Strome
Max Domi - Christian Dvorak - Anthony Duclair
Zac Rinaldo - Nick Cousins - Martinook
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jason Demers
Alex Goligoski - Hjarlmarsson
Kevin Connauton - Luke Schenn
Scott Wedgewood