Oilers Gameday – Vs. Capitals

The Oilers finally claimed their first victim of the season on Monday night, and enter tonight’s tilt looking for their first winning streak of the season. It’ll be game three of a seven game home-stand for the Oilers, and the first of two meetings between Edmonton and Washington on the season. The two faced each other twice early in the year last year, and have both changed quite a bit since then.

The Caps will be without veteran center Brooks Laich, who was placed on the IR earlier this week. Forward Jay Beagle will be in the lineup after being activated, while youngster Tom Wilson will not after being assigned to the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Oilers forward Luke Gazdic is currently week-to-week with a shoulder injury.

Ben Scrivens, who got the win on Monday, is expected to start for Edmonton, while typical Caps’ starter Braden Holtby is likely to get the go for Washington.

The Last Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers and Bolts came out flying on Monday night and played a highly entertaining first twenty minutes of hockey. That said, neither team found the back of the net until Brian Boyle banked a shot off of the feet of Justin Schultz to put the Bolts up one, just 1:21 into the middle frame of action.

Edmonton desperately needed to respond, and did, compliments the man who had moments before been the goat. Justin Schultz activated down low and back-handed a shot over Bishop at the 4:36 mark, while Taylor Hall was hauled down on a break-away and awarded a penalty shot at the 14:57 mark, which he put past Bishop five-hole to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead.

Tampa would tie it at the 13:55 mark of the third as Brett Connolly was left open in front of the net, but moments later Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would score his first of the year off of a terrible turnover. RNH’s goal proved to be the game winner, as Scrivens stopped 22 Tampa shots en route to a 3-2 win.

Washington: The Caps battled former rival Florida on Saturday night at home in what ended up being a goaltending battle between Al Montoya and Justin Peters, the two back-up goalies. Washington drew first blood early on, as Jason Chimera beat Montoya at the 17:12 mark of the first period. Montoya would slam the door shut from there however.

The Panthers pushed back in the middle frame, and tied things up on the power-play as veteran Brad Boyes beat Peters just 4:27 in. Peters would, from that point on, go head-to-head with Montoya, as both were perfect in the period from then on, and each was perfect in the third period. Peters stopped six Panther shots in the frame.

OT would solve nothing, and the sides would head to a shoot-out. All three Washington shooters, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, all scored, while Florida only converted on one of their two shots. This gave the Caps a 2-1 win in their final game before the road trip.

The Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Caps met twice early last year, with the final meeting coming in late October, almost a year to the day. Edmonton came out flying, and pushed the pace, but a bad defensive mistake led to a Capitals chance that Alex Ovechkin would bury to put his team up one, the only goal of the frame.

The second period was more of the same, as Joel Ward would score late in the frame to put Washington up two, even though Edmonton pushed the pace for most of the frame. The third period saw Washington come out in kill mode, as Nicklas Backstrom scored less than two minutes in to put the game out of reach. Jason Chimera would make it a four goal lead, while Justin Schultz would break the shut-out with less than three minutes to go.

Even after Schultz’s goal, the game was clearly decided, a 4-1 win for Washington to complete the sweep of the season series.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers were highly successful with their top-line on Monday night in a power-vs-power role. The RNH line went head-to-head with Stamkos, and out performed him and his mates. Tonight, I suspect Hall, RNH and Eberle will be tasked with going head-to-head with Ovechkin and his line. The key to the game is simple for Edmonton, win that head-to-head battle, and you will win this hockey game.

Washington: Edmonton’s defense is known for break-downs and turnovers. The Capitals have a highly talented team and usually make teams pay for mistakes with their offensive prowess. If the Caps can force a few turnovers tonight and make something happen off of them, then this game has the potential to be a blow out in Washington’s favor.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers forward David Perron has yet to find the back of the net this season, but he also did not look himself during the first five games of the season. DP battled off-season injury and simply was still behind when the season opened, but he looked much better on Monday night and much more engaged. I’ll say Perron, who needs to be a key part of this team, steps up and scores a goal tonight.

Washington: We don’t see the Caps often, so the player to watch is quite clear. Superstar sniper Alex Ovechkin is the only guy I will argue is a better pure goalscorer than the man we saw Monday, Steve Stamkos. OV has a talent level that quite frankly is generational, and his offensive game is a thing of beauty. When this train gets going, you best get out of the way, because there is no stopping him. I’ll be keeping my eyes on him tonight.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Teddy Purcell – Leon Draisaitl – David Perron

Benoit Pouliot – Mark Arcobello – Nail Yakupov

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Jesse Joensuu

Nikita Nikitin – Justin Schultz

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Martin Marincin – Mark Fayne

Ben Scrivens

Washington Capitals Lines:

Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Troy Brouwer

Marcus Johansson – Andre Burakovsky – Jay Beagle

Jason Chimera – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward

Liam O’Brien – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Michael Latta

Brooks Orpik – John Carlson

Karl Alzner – Matt Niskanen

Nate Schmidt – Mike Green

Braden Holtby