The Oilers are back in action tonight, this time in San Jose to face the Sharks for the last time this season. With only 6 games left, it’s at the point in the season where some fans just want it to be over, and others wish that the solid efforts had come earlier in the year when the games would have made more of a difference. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, know that you’re not alone.
Last Game
On Monday night in Arizona, the Oilers fell victim to the Mike Smith curse again (and on his birthday, no less). For whatever reason, Smith is all-world against the Oilers (and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Oilers haven’t beat the Coyotes since 2011, during which time they’ve gone 0-19-4), so it’s not like the outcome was overly surprising.
There were some good things happening out there, though. The line of Hall – Nuge and Draisaitl looked great and generated a lot of puck pressure and chances (until RNH left the game with an undisclosed injury concussion). Connor McDavid notched another two points, bringing us closer to the day when he doesn’t win the Calder trophy because he missed almost half the season due to injury.
It’s really been just more of the same for the once-mighty Oilers, and if they couldn’t beat Arizona, I don’t know if there’s much hope against San Jose.
Keys to the Game
It’d be nice if the Oilers could win tonight, if for no other reason than to get McLellan a win in his old barn against his old team. I’d also like to see a win because I like listening to the play-by-play when they win. And Oilers Twitter is less of a tire fire when they win. Mostly, I want them to win for selfish reasons.
So to do that, they need to stand their ground. If you recall, Darnell Nurse was suspended for three games after the lase Oilers/Sharks tilt, for dummying Roman Polak and (I think) breaking his nose.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF1nYjX8Iwk]Video courtesy of hockeyfights.com
The Sharks called up Micheal Haley, known as a tough guy, so maybe there’s going to be some “extra-curricular activities” on the ice. Todd McLellan loaded his top lines with heavyweights in Zack Kassian and Patrick Maroon, so we’ll see what happens. I think if the Oilers can play a pretty solid game, and if they can keep their wits about them, they might eke out a win.
Players to Watch
At 1.08 points per game, Connor McDavid is outscoring almost everyone in the league, and is most certainly outpacing the Calder Trophy heir apparent in Artemi Panarin. The kid is magical to watch, and I keep thinking how great it would be to see him play in front of a decent D pair, so he’d get room to move out there.
Taylor Hall’s been playing well of late, even if he’s been held off the scoreboard. Last game he was buzzing, and even though there are only 6 games left, I’d like to see him finish strong.
On the Sharks side, I don’t know how he’s been playing, but Patrick Marleau is my favourite Shark, and my favourite non-Oiler who hasn’t won a Stanley Cup. I want him to get his name on that thing so bad.
Projected Lineups
Edmonton
Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Zack Kassian
Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Lauri Korpikoski – Mark Letestu – Nail Yakupov
Matt Hendricks – Adam Cracknell – Iiro Pakarinen
Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Griffin Reinhart – Jordan Oesterle
Darnell Nurse – Adam Clendening
Cam Tal-Bot
San Jose
Tomas Hertl – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Melker Karlsson – Logan Couture – Joonas Donskoi
Patrick Marleau – Chris Tierney – Joel Ward
Micheal Haley – Nick Spaling – Tommy Wingels
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Dylan De Melo – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – Roman Polak
Martin Jones
Final Thoughts
With five more games after tonight, it’s definitely the point in the season where we start looking to draft day and free agency. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I hope that Oiler fans can remember that as much as they want something to happen, there’s no guarantee. Just because we need to get a top-pair D out doesn’t mean that throwing a top-line forward out there is the only play. The problem with getting rid of a big offensive weapon for a defenceman is that there’s now a deficiency in point production.
I know there’s no easy solution, but instead of fighting about it on the twitter machine, just watch the games and stop trying to be the GM. You’re not, and you won’t be. So let them do their jobs, for everyone’s sanity.
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