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Oilers host Flames in clash between rebuilding clubs

Oct 9, 2014 - 3:18 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Edmonton Oilers are hoping their young stars are ready to go to the next level.

The Oilers enter the 2014-15 season owners of the longest playoff drought in the NHL and their quest to return to the postseason begins on Thursday night against the Calgary Flames.

Edmonton has not been to the playoffs since reaching the Stanley Cup Finals as an upstart eighth seed in 2006. Since then, the Oilers have invested a number of high draft picks into their future and are finally looking to cash in.

Tonight's roster will feature three players taken with the top pick: Taylor Hall (2010), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011) and Nail Yakupov (2012). Hall has been the best of the bunch so far, notching a club-high 80 points in 75 games last year off 27 goals and 53 assists.

Also expected to dress tonight for the Oilers will be 18-year-old forward Leon Draisaitl, the third overall pick of the 2014 draft, though defenseman Darnell Nurse, taken seventh overall in 2013, is expected to be a healthy scratch.

General manager Craig MacTavish, who took over for the fired Steve Tambellini in April, has already begun to alter his roster, a makeover that started at last season's trade deadline.

MacTavish dealt center Sam Gagner to Tampa Bay for gritty forward Teddy Purcell and signed forward Benoit Pouliot to a five-year deal after Pouliot notched 36 points in 80 games with the New York Rangers last season before adding another five goals and 10 points in 25 playoff contests.

While young defenseman Nurse and Oscar Klefbom watch as scratches, blueliners Nikita Nikitin and Mark Fayne are in line to make their Edmonton debuts and hope to add stability to a unit that used 14 different defensemen a season ago.

Ben Scrivens, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in January, will get the start in net on opening night for the Oilers. He is 0-1-0 in two games (1 start) versus the Flames, giving up five goals on 35 shots.

Viktor Fasth is expected to start on Saturday in Vancouver for Edmonton.

The Flames will play for a second straight night after beginning their season at home on Wednesday with a 4-2 loss to the Canucks. Paul Byron and Jiri Hudler lit the lamp in the second period for Calgary, which lost its eighth straight game against Vancouver.

Jonas Hiller allowed three goals on 32 shots in his first game with the Flames.

"We have a young team and we're going to learn," Calgary head coach Bob Hartley said. "It's too bad because in the third I felt like that's where we played our best hockey."

Center Sean Monahan was a game-time decision last night for the Flames due to illness, but ended up logging nearly 18 minutes of ice time versus the Canucks and had an assist.

The Flames begin a six-game road trip tonight with Karri Ramo in net. He has split two previous games against the Oilers with a 2.53 goals against average and .928 save percentage.

The Flames won three of five versus the Oilers last season as the home team lost all five encounters.

Edmonton's Jordan Eberle has 20 points in 21 career games versus Calgary.