NHL Preview: Edmonton at Vancouver

Edmonton Oilers (3.60) at Vancouver Canucks (1.31)

The Canucks head into tonight’s contest looking to extend their season-high seven-game winning streak and push their streak of games without a loss in regulation to 15.

The Oilers? They’re looking at a much more modest streak extension — they want to win their second in a row.

Last night at Rexall Coliseum in Edmonton, the Oilers snapped a seven-game losing streak by defeating the New York Islanders 2-1. The goals were scored by forwards Dustin Penner and Gilbert Brule, but the story of the game for Edmonton was the play of goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who turned aside 30 New York shots in what might’ve been his finest performance of the season. While it’s unclear if Dubnyk will get a second consecutive start this evening — it’s widely expected that veteran netminder Nikolai Khabibulin will get the call — it does seem as though he’s shaping up for more playing time in the near future.

In the Vancouver net, rookie phenom Cory Schneider will once again get the start. This has been a dream season for the young American-born netminder thus far — he’s jumped out to a 7-0-2 record in his first full season in the NHL and has one of the best individual record amongst backup goalies. the 23-year-old Marblehead, Mass. native will be looking to keep his streak alive against an Oilers team that has had troubles finding the back of the net lately. Prior to scoring two against the Islanders, Edmonton could only muster three against Detroit and one against Calgary in back-to-back losses.

Vancouver hasn’t had any similar problems finding the back of the net lately. The key has been balanced scoring — aside from the 22 scored by Daniel Sedin and the 20 from Ryan Kesler, that is. After them, there’s a nice distribution between Raffi Torres (11), Henrik Sedin (nine), Jeff Tambellini (9) and then three forwards with eight goals — Alex Burrows, Mikael Samuelsson and Mason Raymond. This is a big reason why Vancouver has jumped out to a 26-8-5 record and first place in the National Hockey League — they’re a team that gets scoring from all three lines and can be extremely tough to shut down.

Some notes for tonight’s game:

— Canucks D Sami Salo has resumed practicing and traveling with the team after needing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon in the offseason. But the Canucks are being cautious with his return, which could also put them over the salary cap, saying it could still be a month away.

— Edmonton RW Jordan Eberle injured his left ankle Jan. 3 and had an appendectomy Jan 6 and is out till mid-January.