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The Edmonton Oilers (2-0-1) and Anaheim Ducks (2-0-0) will meet in a rematch from last season's first round of the NHL Playoffs tonight. Puck drop is set for 10:00 p.m. EDT at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
The Oilers are favored at -133 on the moneyline, with the Ducks +113 to pull off the upset. The over/under is set at 6.5 (-136o / +116u).
Let's get into our Oilers vs. Ducks predictionsand NHL picks .
Pick: Oilers Moneyline/Over 5.5 Parlay +145 (Bet365, Play to +135)
Our Edmonton vs. Anaheim best bet is on the Oilers to win and the over to hit, with the best odds currently available at bet365. For all of your NHL bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NHL odds page.
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Oilers vs. Ducks puck line:Oilers -1.5 (+180), Ducks +1.5 (-220)
Oilers vs. Ducks over/under:6.5 (-136o / +116u)
Oilers vs. Ducks moneyline:Oilers -133, Ducks +113
Oilers vs. Ducks best bet: Click here for my Oilers vs Ducks best bet!
Hopes for a smoother, less dramatic start to the regular season in their first year under Mike Babcock have not come to fruition. The team's shaky goaltending has once again become a massive story early on, while injuries to four top-nine forwards (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Jason Dickinson and Matt Savoie) have meant some relative no-names playing meaningful minutes upfront.
You'd never know it based on the early noise, but they have still claimed five of six available points while playing to a 59.71% expected goal share. A soft schedule has certainly aided those marks, but the amount of negativity regarding a 2-0-1 start with numerous key bodies out seems like a clear take on how eager many pundits are to jump on this team after their controversial offseason.
Babcock realigned his defensive core in Saturday night's matchup versus the Kraken , opting to healthy-scratch Shakir Mukhamadullin, and the new units looked quite effective. Ryan Shea and Connor Murphy should continue to offer a better second pairing than the Oilers skated for the majority of last season, while Mattias Ekholm and Jake Walman both look to be in better form than we saw during injury-plagued 2025-26 campaigns.
Based on yesterday's practice, Dickinson also appears likely to make his season debut tonight. While Dickinson is far from a strong second-line center, he is capable of handling very tough defensive matchups and is a key body to get back for the time being, with other key forwards also sidelined.
Edmonton has confirmed that Devon Levi will get the start in Wednesday's matchup. Levi holds a -3.4 GSAx rating and an .810 save percentage in his first two starts of the year.
It's been a very positive start to the season for the Ducks, who are 2-0-0 after recording victories over two Stanley Cup contenders. They have allowed plenty of high-quality chances in those two outings, but Lukas Dostal has been excellent thus far, which has prevented those leaks from garnering much talk.
A large portion of the hockey world was shocked when GM Pat Verbeek signed Tristan Luneau to a six-year, 42.3 million (7.2 AAV) contract just before the season started, given that the 22-year-old had played just 14 NHL games.
The one factor that really made the contract make sense was just how likely it would be that Luneau would play a hefty role for the team this season given the lack of proven talent on the back end, which therefore made it not unlikely that he could command more at the end of the year.
Luneau has looked great thus far this season, which is massive for Anaheim because the defensive core features a ton of unproven talents. Jackson LaCombe is a legitimate number-one, but even if Luneau pans out on the top pairing, a ton of question marks still exist.
And while Anaheim's offense offers a trio of elite young talents in Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke and Cutter Gauthier, there is still a lack of proven talent to match other playoff hopefuls.
Though the Ducks handily outplayed the Oilers in Round One last season and have gotten off to a strong start, Edmonton's roster still projects to be much better this season, and they should be up for this exciting matchup. The Oilers' goaltending is a major concern, but their elite offensive talents should be able to expose Anaheim's shaky defensive core in this matchup, while I also prefer Edmonton's defensive core.
It's hard to imagine Edmonton limiting the Ducks to less than two goals, but it should have the offensive firepower to extract a small measure of revenge for last year's playoff elimination in what should be another highly exciting Oilers game Wednesday.
Best Bet: Oilers Moneyline | Over 5.5
Parlay +145 ( Bet365 , Play to +135)
