The Edmonton Oilers will wrap up their six-game homestand on Saturday evening when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs.

1. The Leafs won the first meeting between the two teams in Toronto back in November. The Oilers scored early in the first period and carried a 2-1 lead into the third period but fell by a score of 4-3 in overtime.

With a win, Toronto can sweep the two-game season series with Edmonton for the fifth time since Connor McDavid entered the NHL in 2015-16. The last time the Oilers beat the Leafs in a season series was all the way back in 2002-03.

2. The big story from Edmonton’s loss to Toronto in November was Ryan Reaves getting suspended for five games for a big hit on Darnell Nurse. The Department of Player Safety threw the book at Reaves because Nurse’s head was the main point of contact along with the enforcer’s history of attempting to injure other players.

After Nurse exited the game, Reaves went to Edmonton’s dressing room to deliver a face-to-face apology. Nurse added after the game that he felt it was “pretty obvious” that Reaves intended to inflict pain with the hit.

Though Nurse missed four games with a concussion after the hit, the veteran defender said that he doesn’t want to let Reaves distract from the Oilers trying to get two points against a strong opponent.

Based on Toronto’s lines during their practice in Edmonton, it seems Reaves will be a healthy scratch when they face the Oilers on Saturday. The 38-year-old has played in 32 games this season for the Leafs and has two points along with 28 penalty minutes.

3. The Leafs are coming into this game on a three-game skid after dropping games to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, and Minnesota Wild. Toronto owns a 30-19-2 record this season, one point behind the Florida Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

The team has only scored three goals over their three-game losing streak and they’ll be getting some much-needed reinforcements when they play Edmonton on Saturday. John Tavares and Matthew Knies have been out since January and both forwards are expected to suit up against the Oilers.

4. Leading the way offensively for the Leafs this season has been William Nylander, who has 29 goals and 51 points through 51 games. Tavares and Auston Matthews, who have both missed time with injuries, are second on the team with 20 goals, while Knies is fourth with 18 goals. Mitch Marner and Bobby McMann round out the top-six with 15 and 14 goals respectively.

A major issue for the Leafs has been depth scoring, as Nylander, Tavares, Matthews, Knies, Marner, and McMann have combined for nearly 75 percent of Toronto’s 155 goals this season. Max Domi only has three goals this season and hasn’t scored since December. Max Pacioretty has been limited because of injury but the veteran only has five goals in 33 games.

5. The Oilers made some changes to their lineup after losing in the shootout to the Detroit Red Wings earlier this week.

During Edmonton’s practice on Friday, Corey Perry was moved up alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the team’s top forward line. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the second-line centre with Viktor Arvidsson and Zach Hyman on his wings while Adam Henrique had Vasily Podkolzin and Connor Brown on his wings. Jeff Skinner, Mattias Janmark, and Kasperi Kapanen made up the fourth line with Noah Philp as the extra forward.

Defenders Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg were absent from Friday’s practice because of an illness but it’s expected that both will be in the lineup against Toronto. Klingberg logged 16:39 in his Oilers debut on Thursday, which was his first NHL game since November of 2023 when playing with the Leafs.