Oilers Gameday – Vs. Ducks

The Oilers begin their final week of the regular season tonight with their fifth and final battle of the season against the Anaheim Ducks on the year. The Ducks have won three of the previous four meetings, including a 3-2 decision last Wednesday night. The home team has won every game in this matchup so far on the season.

The Oilers are just six days away from the off-season, and are playing the role of spoiler. Edmonton is coming off of a nice 3-2 win in the shootout on Friday night in Phoenix, where Sam Gagner was the hero tying the game late and scoring the shoot-out winner. The Oilers saw Andrew Ference take the morning skate again today, but he will not be in the lineup. Forward Nail Yakupov is now expected to miss the rest of the season, while defender Oscar Klefbom will miss tonight’s game according to reports.

The Ducks are still holding onto the Pacific division lead, and two points tonight can basically wrap up a date with the Minnesota Wild in round one of the playoffs in a week and a half. Ducks forward Teemu Selanne will not play tonight, and instead will play tomorrow in Vancouver when the Ducks battle the Vancouver Canucks. This will be the first of back-to-back match-ups for Anaheim as mentioned.

Ben Scrivens is expected to start for Edmonton, while Frederick Anderson is expected to start for Anaheim.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Keep fighting the good fight tonight. Edmonton played a good road game on Friday and got a win they deserved against the Yotes. They deserved to beat these Ducks last Wednesday night, and could have beaten San Jose last Tuesday. This good three game stretch against tough competition is a nice change of pace, and if the Oilers can build off of it they might get another win here.

Anaheim: The Ducks took over in the third period on Wednesday night thanks to Corey Perry and the top-line simply dominating the play. For Anaheim, their key to the game is to play that agitating style that the top-line carries. It clearly frustrates the Oilers and opens things up. If they can do that for a majority of the game, they’ll come away with this one.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has had a really nice stretch of games starting in San Jose last week. He’s gone against some tough competition and really dictated the play. He’s putting up more points, and even better is generating more chances for the team. It’s a great sign for the Oilers, and I suspect he keeps it up tonight with another goal.

Anaheim: In their two most recent meetings, Corey Perry has run the show for Anaheim. I suspect he keeps that up tonight. Perry is extremely talented, gets under the skin of his opponents, and plays an edgy game. That is the Oilers’ worst nightmare, and I’m going out on a limb and saying he scores one tonight.

Gameday Prediction:

The Oilers deserved to beat Anaheim last Wednesday, but just fell short. The Oilers have seen improved play over the last week, and are seeing better results against these top Pacific teams. The Ducks will need these points tonight, but something tells me the Oilers get a little revenge and keep up the theme of the home team winning each game in this series. I’ll say Edmonton gets a 4-3 victory tonight.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Anton Lander – Sam Gagner – David Perron

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Steve Pinizzotto

Matt Hendricks – Will Acton – Tyler Pitlick

Martin Marincin – Jeff Petry

Anton Belov – Justin Schultz

Mark Fraser – Phil Larsen

Ben Scrivens

Anaheim Ducks Lines:

Nick Bonino – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Patrick Maroon – Mathieu Perreault – Kyle Palmieri

Andrew Cogliano – Saku Koivu – Jakob Silfverberg

Matt Belesky – Rickard Rakell – Daniel Winnik

Stephane Robidas – Francois Beauchemin

Ben Lovejoy – Luca Sbisa

Bryan Allen – Hampus Lindholm

Frederick Anderson