Oilers Gameday – Vs. Canucks

Well folks, this is it. It’s game 82, and less than 12 hours from now the 2013-14 Edmonton Oilers hockey season will come to a close. It’s been a major disappointment, there is no doubt about that. There were playoffs hopes to start the season, but a top three pick is the likely landing spot. The Oilers wrap it up tonight with a date against the Vancouver Canucks. It’ll be the fifth and final meeting, with the Canucks taking three of the previous four. Edmonton won the last meeting in late January.

Tonight isn’t about a meaningless game however. Both Edmonton and Vancouver are out of the playoff mix, and will be making major changes in the off-season. Tonight is not about two points, but rather about honoring an Oilers legend in Ryan Smyth, who announced his retirement yesterday and will play his final NHL game tonight at home. Get the man his power-play goal, and get the man the win. Do this right Oilers. Sam Gagner joins the list of injured Oilers and will not play tonight.

The Canucks enter tonight on the first half of back to back games, as they will end their season tomorrow night against the Calgary Flames. The Canucks faced a number of injuries this year and fell out of the playoff chase for the first time in a number of years. The Canucks have already started the changes, relieving GM Mike Gillis of his duties and bringing in former star forward Trevor Linden to take over the President of Hockey Operations role. Don’t forget, since these teams last met, the Canucks have moved goalie Roberto Luongo.

The Oilers close it out with Ben Scrivens in net, while Vancouver turns to Jacob Markstrom, who faced Edmonton earlier this year as a member of the Florida Panthers.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Feed off the emotion tonight. If the Edmonton Oilers can feed off of the emotion tonight then they have a very good chance to win this hockey game. The Canucks are in their first death march in years, and are totally uninspired right now. For Edmonton, this is a game to give a legend his proper farewell. If you can feed off of that, you can win this hockey game.

Vancouver: Score early! As we mentioned above, the atmosphere inside of Rexall Place tonight will be unreal. There is going to be a ton of emotion, but if Vancouver can get an early goal, they can pop the balloon and take this game over. Edmonton has been giving up a lot of early goals as of late, so taking advantage of that could be huge tonight for the Canucks.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Come on now, it’s Ryan Smyth. This guy bled for this team for years, is the best Oiler of my generation, and was the face of those hard-working, lunch pail teams of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. He sits one goal away from the Oilers power-play goals record, and is going to be charged up tonight. Enjoy watching the mullet fly one last time.

Vancouver: Canucks forward Zack Kassian has had an impact on just about every game between these two all season. It started with a stupid and dirty play in the pre-season, and has continued with goals and big hits against Edmonton all year long. He’s been involved in the last five meetings these teams have had, and I’d be willing to bet he gets involved tonight.

Gameday Prediction:

I’ve picked Edmonton to lose a lot lately, and with good reason. That being said, Vancouver is simply going through the motions, and the Oilers finally have something to play for tonight. This team hasn’t exactly been a family all year, but I’m willing to wager they lay it all on the line for 94. Give me the Oilers 4-1 tonight.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Ryan Smyth – Roman Horak – David Perron

Matt Hendricks – Will Acton – Steve Pinizzotto

Philip Larsen – Anton Lander – Tyler Pitlick

Martin Marincin – Jeff Petry

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Mark Fraser – Anton Belov

Ben Scrivens

Vancouver Canucks Lines:

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Nicklas Jensen

Alex Burrows – Ryan Kesler – Jannik Hansen

Chris Higgins – Brad Richardson – Zack Kassian

David Booth – Shawn Matthias – Tom Sestito

Alexander Edler – Kevin Bieksa

Dan Hamhuis – Yannick Weber

Ryan Stanton – Frank Corrado

Jacob Markstrom