Oilers Gameday – Vs. Predators

The Oilers conclude a disappointing three game homestand tonight with a visit from the Nashville Predators in meeting number two between the teams this season. The Oilers have dropped six in a row and are looking for some kind of break. They played decently well on Friday, but simply couldn’t recover from a 4-0 hole.

The Predators are hurting this season as well, and look like they too will be missing the playoffs. The team has started shaking things up, making a pair of trades in the last two weeks, adding Devan Dubnyk for Matt Hendricks, and getting Michael Del Zotto from New York for Kevin Klein.

The Preds have won three out of five, and only lost in regulation once in that five game stretch, a 5-4 loss to Colorado last Saturday night.

The Oilers will be without captain Andrew Ference, who is battling a head injury he suffered on Friday night. Forward Ales Hemsky is close to returning, but is not expected to play tonight. Nick Schultz will draw back in to replace the injured Ference.

Ben Scrivens is expected to start for the Oilers tonight, while Carter Hutton, not Devan Dubnyk, will get the start for Nashville.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers hosted the Coyotes on Friday night in a game which got out of hand early. The Yotes and Oilers played an even first for the most part, but the Coyotes would take over late. Mikkel Boedker would rip home a wrist shot to open the scoring at 14:17, while Radim Vrbata would be left alone in the slot and rip home a shot just under three minutes later.

Derek Morris would beat Bryzgalov with a weak shot from the point at the 18:19 mark to make it 3-0, which would be the score after one. In the second, Mike Ribeiro would tip-in a rebound off Bryzgalov’s blocker to put the Yotes up four. Phoenix would step off the gas a little however, and Edmonton would claw back into it.

The Oilers would command the second period, and get rewarded at the 13:17 mark as Matt Hendricks would tip-in a Ryan Jones pass. In the third, David Perron would score a beautiful back-hand goal, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would snap home a shot five-hole to make it a 4-3 game. It was too little too late however, and the Yotes would hang on for the 4-3 win.

Nashville: The Preds were last in action Friday night in Calgary against the Flames. The sides played an even first, and it showed on the scoreboard, as the sides traded goals. Eric Nystrom would open the scoring 1:51 in, but Mark Giordano would tie in on the PP at the 3:23 mark.

In the second, Nystrom would complete the hat-trick, scoring two goals about four minutes apart to put the Preds up 3-1 heading into the final frame. The Flames would get another PPG thanks to a David Jones marker to make it a one goal game, but Nystrom would score his fourth to give the Preds their two-goal lead back.

Calgary would push back, and end up beating Devan Dubnyk twice to tie the game. Mikael Backlund and David Jones would get the two goals to send things to OT, which solved nothing. In the shoot-out, Jiri Hudler and Roman Josi would trade goals in the first three rounds, while Sean Monahan would score in the sudden-death fourth round to complete Calgary’s comeback, 5-4.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Preds last met in the music city back on November 28th in Ilya Bryzgalov’s first Oilers start. The Preds would out-play Edmonton in the first, out-shooting them 13-9. Bryzgalov would stop all 13 shots however, and keep things tied after 20.

In the second, David Perron and Paul Gaustad would take penalties resulting in a four-on-four situation which would start the Oilers offense. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would tip home a Jeff Petry shot in the slot at 5:32, while Taylor Hall would back hand one home less than a minute later to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead.

In the third, the Predators would desperately try to tie things up, but Bryzgalov stood tall, stopping all ten shots. Jordan Eberle would seal the deal with an empty net goal with less than a minute left, while Bryzgalov would complete the shut-out, as Edmonton hung on to a 3-0 win.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers defender Nick Schultz draws back in tonight, and could be playing some of his final games in Edmonton. The veteran defender is rumored to be a target for the Boston Bruins, and very well could be showcasing for a chance to play for the contending B’s. I expect Schultz, with a chance to play himself onto a playoff team, to play more to his strengths and have a good game tonight.

Nashville: Predators defender Michael Del Zotto was acquired by the team last week, and made his debut Friday in Calgary. The Preds are in desperate need of offense and are hoping the puck-mover can help that out a little bit. Del Zotto is a talented defender, and I’ll be keeping an eye on him and seeing if he can support the Preds’ forwards.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

David Perron – Sam Gagner – Nail Yakupov

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Matt Hendricks

Luke Gazdic – Mark Arcobello – Ryan Jones

Anton Belov – Jeff Petry

Nick Schultz – Justin Schultz

Martin Marincin – Corey Potter

Ben Scrivens

Nashville Predators Lines:

Colin Wilson – Mike Fisher – Patric Hornqvist

Nick Spaling – David Legwand – Craig Smith

Gabriel Bourque – Matt Cullen – Eric Nystrom

Richard Clune – Paul Gaustad – Viktor Stalberg

Roman Josi – Shea Weber

Michael Del Zotto – Seth Jones

Victor Bartley – Ryan Ellis

Carter Hutton