The New York Islanders are in town tonight to take on the Oilers, and are looking to sweep the season series (though to be fair, they scored enough goals last game that they could have done it then).
It’s the last game before the trade deadline, and while the Oilers have made three deals in the last day, it’s probably safe to say that the lineup we see today won’t be the same as what we see on Tuesday in Buffalo.
Last Game
The Oilers played pretty well against the Ducks on Friday night, actually, coming away with a point after an overtime loss on a FILTHY goal by Rickard Rakell.
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Despite that finish, the Oilers played a pretty strong game, and held one of the best teams in their division to only 2 goals. Instead of getting curbstomped like I predicted they would, the Oilers finished their quick 2game road trip with only one point, but with two fairly complete efforts backstopped by Cam Talbot. Considering where the Oilers have come from in the last few weeks, their efforts on Thursday and Friday shouldn’t go unnoticed.
It’s also important to note that the Oilers have lost 20 (!) one-goal games – 13 in regulation and 7 in overtime/shootouts – including two 1-0 games. If we take 7 of those regulation losses and turn them into wins, we add 14 points to the Oilers total, and they’re playing over 0.500 and people are way less angry. When you break it down that way, the Oilers really only needed to score 16 more goals for this season to look way less bleak than it has. So when people (myself included) say that the Oilers are more than visually better, they’re right.
Keys to the Game
- Don’t let the Islanders get 8 goals. Maybe try to hold them to 2 as well but try to score 3.
- Play the same kind of hockey they’ve played the last couple games – it’s obviously worked, so why not keep doing that?
- Cycle the puck a little better and maybe make sure there’s someone open in the slot before wildly throwing the puck to the middle.
- Make sure that when they dump the puck in, it goes into the corners and doesn’t get picked up just inside the blueline. You know….simple things.
Players to Watch
- Not Justin Schultz, because he got traded yesterday to the Pittsburgh Penguins in what could turn out as the best fleece job Chiarelli has ever pulled.
- Jordan Eberle has been playing well (at least, he’s been getting points) because he’s playing with McDavid.
- Cam Talbot has been pretty solid the last few games, and I don’t want to say for certain, but I’m pretty sure that our goalie troubles are mostly solved. Hopefully.
- And, as always, Taylor Hall.
Projected Lineups
Edmonton
Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Zack Kassian
Benoit Pouliot – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Lauri Korpikoski
Jujhar Khaira – Anton Lander – Nail Yakupov
Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Darnell Nurse – Adam Clendening
Jordan Oesterle – Brandon Davidson
Cam Tal-Bot
New York
Josh Bailey – John Tavares – Ryan Strome
Nikolay Kulemin – Frans Nielsen – Kyle Okposo
Anders Lee – Brock Nelson – Cal Clutterbuck
Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Stever Bernier
Nick Leddy – Johnny Boychuk
Travis Hamonic – Brian Strait
Thomas Hickey – Ryan Pulock
Jaroslav Halak
Final Thoughts
As I write this, there’s a replay of Manchester United and Arsenal from earlier today on, and I’m amazed by how into the game the entire crowd is. At the 82 minute mark the score is 3-2 in favour of Man U, and I don’t think I’ve heard the crowd quiet at all. Obviously the English premier League is a much different beast than the NHL, and the teams all have long, storied histories complete with crowd chants and songs, and there’s a kind of elegance to the way the fans take in the game. It’s a revelation to hear a game called with very little meaningless blather from the commentators and to hear the crowd actively participating in the game. Someday, maybe, my experience watching an Oilers game will be similar. (Edit: United ended up winning 3-2, giving their fans some hope going into Wednesday’s match against Watford.)
The other thing I want to talk about briefly is Steph Curry. I’m not a huge basketball fan, but I could watch him play all night long. He is absolutely unreal at what he does, and defending against him must nearly impossible. Anyway, last night, he broke the NBA single-season record of 286 three-point FGs (set last season by Curry himself), and tied the NBA record for most 3-pointers in a game – he finished the game with 12, including the game winning shot from about 37 feet out. He’s doing things that other NBA players can’t even believe. And the way he plays the game, with such joy and passion is inspiring.
This three minute video is worth a watch:
Steph Curry & KD duel, in primetime!https://t.co/jBZd72v6ln
— NBA (@NBA) February 28, 2016
(Someday, Oilers fans, we’ll have highlight reels like this for McDavid. I promise.)
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