Squaring off with nearly identical records entering Wednesday’s contest, the Toronto Maple Leafs were presented with a key opportunity to get out of a rut against a quality Minnesota Wild team, with a four-game road trip on the horizon before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

You can look to John Tavares and Matthew Knies’ imminent returns and hope they can spark the lineup, but this is still a team with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Offence should not be this difficult and they have the raw talent to at least make games interesting. Tonight was far from it.

The 4 Nations Face-Off is now less than two weeks away. It begins Feb. 12 at Bell Centre in Montreal. Most NHL teams have six, seven or eight games remaining before the League breaks for the first best-on-best hockey tournament since the World Cup of Hockey 2016.

Calgary Flames (23-16-7, in the Pacific Division) vs. Minnesota Wild (28-16-4, in the Central Division) Saint Paul, Minnesota; Saturday, 7 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: The Minnesota Wild aim to break their three-game home skid with a win against the Calgary Flames.

In the pursuit of smaller, measured deals, these players could help the Oilers organization now and into the future.

Here is who has been named to the February tournament (listed alphabetically): Initial six players F Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights F Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs F Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers D Adam Fox, New York Rangers D Quinn Hughes ...

The fantasy schedule is going to get weird in another week or two, so keep an eye on your lineup and ranking decisions. With the 4 Nations Face-Off coming up, we have only one more "normal" full ...

The Edmonton Oilers previously signalled they want to keep Matthew Savoie developing in the AHL this year, but a call up may soon be in the cards according to several Oilers analysts.

Matthew McConaughey has some, uh, interesting thoughts about Super Bowl LIX. In an exclusive preview of his commercial for Uber Eats, which will debut in full during the big game, he has a very ...

Connor McDavid returned to the Edmonton Oilers lineup against the Seattle Kraken after serving a three-game suspension for cross-checking Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland in the helmet Jan. 18.

Boldy supplied three assists and four shots on goal in Sunday's 4-2 win over the Blackhawks.

The Edmonton Oilers previously signalled they want to keep Matthew Savoie developing in the AHL this year, but a call up may soon be in the cards according to several Oilers analysts. Matthew ...