Only for Guild Members » Wraps up four-game homestand Thursday

The Edmonton Oilers have one of the league’s top players in reigning two-time scoring champion Connor McDavid. But heading into their home opener Custom Los Angeles Kings Jerseys , the spotlight may be on the club’s defensive unit as they are tasked with shutting down one of the NHL’s top lines.Edmonton finally plays at Rogers Place on Thursday night when they face the Boston Bruins, who are led by the red-hot trio of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak.The excitement of playing at home for the first time comes after Edmonton (2-2-0) rallied from a three-goal, third-period deficit to top the Winnipeg Jets 5-4 on Tuesday night. That ended the Jets’ 11-game regular-season home winning streak.Article continues below ...After salvaging a split of a four-game season-opening road trip that started in Sweden, Oilers coach Todd McLellan wants to see his club play hard from the initial faceoff to the final horn.“They poured it all out, in my opinion, in the last period and a half. We didn’t pour it all out in the first period and a half, and our team cannot afford to waste minutes. It has to be on the line from minute one to minute 60,” he said Wednesday. Tuesday’s win also started a stretch in which Edmonton will play six straight games against teams that collected at least 100 points apiece in 2017-18. After facing the Bruins, the Oilers take on the Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins and defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals at Rogers Place before travelling to Nashville.“This homestand’s obviously really important and we’re playing some A-class teams,” McLellan noted.Last season, Edmonton was 19-18-4 at home but closed the campaign with three straight losses there.McDavid had two goals and two assists against the Jets and set an NHL record by having a hand in Edmonton’s first nine goals this season. Three of the captain’s four goals have come on the power play. He had five such tallies in 2017-18.“Pucks are going in for him and he’s very confident. He’s Connor,” McLellan said of McDavid www.officialwild.com , who has 17 goals and 18 assists in his last 16 home games, and a goal with seven assists in five career games versus Boston.Edmonton and Boston (4-2-0) close the season series with this matchup. McDavid scored early, but Cam Talbot yielded three goals in less than six minutes of the opening period en route to a 4-1 loss to Boston on Oct. 11. “That’s a good team over there,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said on Wednesday. “They play hard. They’re very skilled. You can’t give them too much.”Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak have spearheaded the Bruins’ offense so far, combining for 15 of the club’s 24 goals. They accounted for two goals and two assists on Wednesday, but Boston’s four-game winning streak was snapped with a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames.All three players are riding five-game point streaks. Marchand has two goals and nine assists in that span, while Pastrnak — who had a goal against Calgary waved off after video review — has seven goals with three helpers.With five consecutive multipoint games, Bergeron has been the best of the bunch with six goals and seven assists. He is also the current NHL First Star of the Week.In 17 career games in Edmonton, Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak have totaled five goals and seven assists.Boston coach Bruce Cassidy is concerned about the lack of production from the remainder of the team.“We know we have a line that’s going to deliver that every night. We went home and we did get some of that much better balance. You hope that continues. It didn’t tonight,” Cassidy told the Boston Herald.Tuukka Rask stopped 23 Flames shots, but is 0-3-2 with a 3.79 goals-against average and .881 save percentage in his last five starts versus Edmonton.“We left our goalie out to dry, and it could have been worse Minnesota Wild T-Shirts Authentic ,” Bergeron told the Boston Globe.It doesn’t appear Rask will get the chance to earn a win Thursday. In a tweet from the team earlier in the week, Cassidy said Jaroslav Halak would start against Edmonton. Halak has turned away 73 of 76 shots, including a 25-save effort versus the Oilers one week ago, while winning both of his starts for Boston.He’s given up a total of seven goals while losing each of his last two road starts against Edmonton. BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jack Eichel helped the Buffalo Sabres end a long drought without a winning record.Eichel, the Sabres’ 21-year-old captain, scored two goals in a 4-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.With its second straight victory, Buffalo (2-1-0) has more wins than losses for the first time since the third game of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season.“I think we are coming together as a group,” said Eichel, who also had a goal and an assist in Buffalo’s 3-1 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday.“We are not a finished product by any means, but I think you can see the desperation in which we play with and the togetherness that we play with in the last few games.”Marco Scandella and Jason Pominville had the other goals and Carter Hutton made 35 saves for the Sabres. Hutton was coming off a 43-save performance against the Rangers.“It’s nice to get off to a good start,” said Pominville, who was part of the 2013 Sabres before being traded to the Minnesota Wild late in the season, and returned to Buffalo in a trade prior to last season. “It’s a different vibe Minnesota Wild Hoodies Authentic , different atmosphere.”Erik Haula and Jonathan Marchessault scored for the Golden Knights (1-2-0), playing the second of a five-game road trip. Haula had the winning shootout goal in Vegas’ victory at Minnesota on Saturday. Marc-Andre Fleury made 13 saves.“We weren’t mentally sharp,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “There were mental lapses in the D-zone and a guy left wide open. You couldn’t blame Fleury on any of the goals.”The Golden Knights put more shots on goal than the Sabres in all three periods, though Gallant said they did not generate many good scoring chances.The Sabres were also outshot in each period of their win over the Rangers.“When you are winning games and not playing your best, it’s a really good sign,” Eichel said.Buffalo had only five shots on goal in the second period, but was able to score three times in about five minutes.“We limited them to a low number of shots, however, the shots they did get were Grade-A opportunities,” Vegas forward Max Pacioretty said. “We can’t hang our goaltender out to dry like that.”Eichel tucked a backhand around Fleury’s poke-check for his third of the season to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead five minutes into the period. Sam Reinhart slipped a pass between the skates of Vegas defenseman Deryk Engelland to set up Eichel in front of the net.The Golden Knights got on the board less than three minutes later when Haula sent a wrist shot from outside the right circle past Hutton.The Sabres responded with two goals in a 1:28 span. Scandella floated a long shot from the blue line over Fleury’s glove just 27 seconds after Vegas scored. Evan Rodrigues fed Pominville for a one-timer to make it 4-1 midway through the second.Buffalo never relinquished the lead after Rasmus Ristolainen slid the puck to Eichel for a one-timer from the left circle on a power play with 5:29 left in the first period.Marchessault scored his second of the season for Vegas on an unassisted wrist shot from the high slot with 9:13 left in the third period.NOTES: The Golden Knights are 0 for 8 on the power play through the first three games. … Vegas didn’t have its second loss until the 10th game of last season. … The Golden Knights beat the Sabres in both meetings last season, winning in overtime at home and in a shootout in Buffalo. … Sabres C Johan Larsson practiced Sunday for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury on Sept. 26 and is nearing a return.UP NEXTVegas: Continues East Coast trip at Washington on Wednesday in a rematch of the Stanley Cup Final.Buffalo: Wraps up four-game homestand Thursday against Colorado.