Penguins In Saturday Skate at Boston Bruins

The Edmonton Oilers entered Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks a +145 underdog, but came out of it with the first player to score eight points in a single game in 23 years.

Edmonton’s Sam Gagner notched four goals and four assists in the Oilers' 8-4 win over the Blackhawks. Gagner’s eight points tied Paul Coffey and Wayne Gretzky for the most in a single game in Edmonton Oilers history.

With the win, Edmonton (20-26-5) moved to 3-0 in its last three games at home, also including an upset win over San Jose as a +155 underdog. The Oilers will get another chance to play the role of big home underdog Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. (ET) when they host the Detroit Red Wings.

Detroit (35-16-1) sits atop the Western Conference with 71 points and is 9-1 in its last 10 games. Unfortunately for the Red Wings, all-star goaltender Jimmy Howard was injured in Thursday night’s win over Vancouver and is expected to miss two weeks with a broken finger.

Backup Ty Conklin is just 3-5-0 with a 3.20 GAA and an .886 save percentage this season.

Entering Friday six points behind Detroit with three games in hand, the St. Louis Blues (29-13-7) hope to gain some ground in the Central Division Saturday when they take on the Nashville Predators (31-17-4) on the road at 8:00 p.m. (ET). Nashville has been on a tear of late with a 10-2-0 record over their last 12 games and a 19-6-0 record over their last 25.

The Blues entered their game Friday night against Los Angeles with an 8-1-2 record in their last 11 games. St. Louis is just 8-10-3 (8-13 moneyline) on the road this season while Nashville has won five straight at home.

Two of the Eastern Conference’s top teams clash Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. (ET) when the Pittsburgh Penguins head to Boston to face the Bruins. After going 25-4-1 a 30-game stretch, the Bruins (32-15-2) have hit a rough patch going 4-4-1 over their last nine games. Pittsburgh (29-18-4) had an eight-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night in a loss on the road to Toronto.

Five of Pittsburgh’s last six wins have come in overtime or the shootout; Boston is 6-2 this season in games that have extended past regulation. Saturday’s game will be televised nationally on the NHL Network.

The New Jersey Devils take on the Flyers in Philadelphia Saturday, also starting in the early afternoon at 1:00 p.m. (ET). The Flyers (30-14-6) are just 3-2-2 in their last seven games, but are coming off of a strong 4-1 win over red-hot Nashville. The Devils (28-19-3) are 5-2-1 in their last seven games and hope to put some distance between themselves and the teams chasing them in this season’s heated playoff race.

Special teams could be a major factor in this one as Philadelphia’s strong power play (fourth in the NHL at 20.9%) tries to solve New Jersey’s league-best penalty kill (at 89.6%).