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Gagner, Coyotes host Oilers

Oct 15, 2014 - 2:41 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Arizona center Sam Gagner will face his former Edmonton club for the first time on Wednesday night as the Coyotes try to extend their point streak over the struggling Oilers.

Gagner was never able to live up to the expectations of being the sixth overall pick of the 2007 draft by Edmonton. He never reached the 20-goal mark in seven seasons with the club and never topped the 49 points he had as a rookie in 2007-08.

In all, the 25-year-old had 101 goals and 295 points in 481 games with the Oilers before getting dealt to Tampa Bay on June 29. The Lightning then flipped him the same day, along with B.J. Crombeen, for Arizona for a sixth- round pick.

"There's a lot of great guys over there. But it's one of those things -- I have friends on other teams (too). Once the puck drops, you stop becoming friends and it's all about winning the hockey game. You get competitive and it all goes out the window," said Gagner.

"I don't think it's going to be hard for me once the puck drops. Just focus on playing hockey and helping the team get two points."

The Coyotes have had no problems getting points against the Oilers. They are 10-0-3 in the last 13 meetings, having not lost in regulation in this series since Jan. 25, 2011.

Arizona has won eight of its last 11 as the host against Edmonton and is 1-1-0 on the young season. The Coyotes lost their opener 6-2 against Winnipeg on Thursday, but bested the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime on Monday.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored a power-play goal with 14 seconds left in overtime, driving a shot from the right wing past a screened Jonathan Quick.

Antoine Vermette assisted on the game-winning tally and also scored a goal, Mikkel Boedker notched a goal and Keith Yandle assisted on all three tallies.

"We were much more poised with the puck tonight than we were the other night," said Phoenix head coach Dave Tippett. "Especially moving out of our zone and into the neutral zone, things were much better."

Devan Dubnyk stopped 24-of-26 shots for his first win of the season. Tippett, though, is expected to go back to Mike Smith in net tonight in the third contest of a four-game homestand.

Smith, who yielded all six goals on 27 shots in the loss to the Jets, is 8-1-1 lifetime versus the Oilers with a 2.58 goals against average and .915 save percentage.

Edmonton, meanwhile, is winless through its first three games of the season after getting routed 6-1 by Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The Oilers were nearly shut out until Matt Hendricks scored with 21 seconds to play.

The Kings scored twice in the game's first five minutes and led 3-0 after the first.

"I thought we came out cautious, had some bad luck during the game, but it just goes to reconfirm that every moment in the game is an important one," said Edmonton head coach Dallas Eakins.

Viktor Fasth got the start in net for Edmonton and left with a groin injury in the first period after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Ex-King Ben Scrivens stopped 12-of-15 shots in relief.

Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse, a 2013 first-round pick, and forward Bogdan Yakimov made their NHL debuts as forwards Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent- Hopkins were out with undisclosed injuries and defenseman Jeff Petry was scratched.

Edmonton has opened with three straight losses (0-2-1) for the first time since dropping its first four games in 1995-96.

Scrivens is likely to start tonight and is 1-1-1 with a 2.22 GAA and .926 save percentage in three career games against the Coyotes.