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Red is the New Black: Blackhawks at Oilers Preview

Chicago’s final road trip of the season starts off in Edmonton.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

Chicago heads away from home ice for the final time this season, kicking off a three-game road trip in Edmonton against the Oilers on Thursday night.

The Oilers may just be clicking at the right time, entering this game as winners of four straight and with a 9-4-1 records in their last 14 games. Playoff seeding is still yet to be decided in the Pacific, with Anaheim and Vegas also fighting with the Oilers for divisional supremacy. All three teams have played 75 games, with Anaheim up top at 87 points, Edmonton at 85 and Vegas at 82, so the top seed from this division — and a likely first-round matchup with the Utah Mammoth — are still on the table. It’s worth noting that Edmonton has 29 regulation wins compared to Anaheim’s 24 and Vegas’ 25, which suggets it’s probably the best of this bunch — it just needed some time to figure that out.

This latest splurge has come despite Leon Draisaitl being on the shelf, sidelined by a knee-injury in mid-March. Recent reports indicated that Draisaitl visited Germany in search of medical care, which likely caused some nervous moments in Edmonton, but all indications are that he will be back either as the playoffs open or soon after. The Oilers still have Connor McDavid (league-best 82 assists and 125 points this season), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (53 points in 65 games) and Zach Hyman (51 in 56) leading the offense with Evan Bouchard (86 in 75) guiding the blue line. Edmonton also beefed up at the deadline by picking up a pair of Hawks veterans in Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, who’ll skate against their former mates for the first time this evening.

One other injury item to note is the absence of the aforementioned Hyman from Wednesday’s practice, and his status for this game remains a game-time decision, based on the morning skate.

In Hyman’s place during Wednesday’s practice was another old friend in Colton Dach:

As for the Hawks, there is no playoff chasing but there is still plenty to watch, as the team continues to trot out an incredibly young lineup over the final few weeks of the season. The recent arrival — and subsequent strong play — from 2025 No. 3 overall pick Anton Frondell has generated some optimism around these parts, even if the results continue to trend in a negative direction. Chicago’s lost four straight and six of seven, dropping to the No. 31 spot in the league standings, where it could very well end up when the season ends in just seven games.

But we’ll worry about draft lottery odds later. The Hawks had an optional morning skate, so the best guess at a lineup comes from Wednesday’s practice:

Blackhawks lines in practice Greene-Bedard-Lardis Bertuzzi-Frondell-Mikheyev Donato-Nazar-Burakovsky Teräväinen-Boisvert-Slaggert Mangiapane is in a non-contact jersey and has been rotating in for Teräväinen. Lafferty and Toninato were roating in on a fifth line.

— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 12:11 PM

Still time to see what more of these kids can do.

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Oilers
45.57% (30th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.08% (14th)
42.30% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 51.36% (10th)
2.56 (31st) — Goals per game — 3.48 (5th)
3.24 (25th) — Goals against per game — 3.31 (t-26th)
46.0% (31st) — Faceoffs — 52.6% (6th)
17.7% (t-26th) — Power play — 30.0% (1st)
83.9% (1st) — Penalty kill — 77.7% (t-22nd)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 8 p.m. CT
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720

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