Oilers Gameday – @ Stars

Like the Edmonton Oilers, the Dallas Stars are a team that has seen a string of injuries early in the season. The Stars have been without Ales Hemsky, Mattias Janmark and Jiri Hudler. Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp and Cody Eakin have also missed time early in the season. The injuries have played a large part in their 5-6-3 record.

While the Oilers have been without Brandon Davidson, Mark Fayne, Matt Hendricks, Iiro Pakarinen, Drake Caggiula and Kris Russel. The difference in this being that the Oilers are getting some reinforcements tonight. Russell, Hendricks and Caggiula will all draw back into the Oilers lineup for tonight’s 5:00 p.m. puckdrop.

Tonight’s matchup will also be the NHL debut for former NCAA player Drake Caggiula, who the Oilers signed this offseason. Hendricks will also be making his season debut tonight.

With these return from injuries, the Oilers waived Anton Lander yesterday, who cleared today, as well as assigned Dillon Simpson to the AHL. Benoit Pouliot, who I speculated could be used as a trade chip yesterday, will be a healthy scratch this evening.

The Oilers come into tonight’s game looking to snap a five-game losing streak.

KEYS TO THE GAME

Edmonton

• JWB. Just win, baby. That’s all that matters tonight. The return of Caggiula, Hendricks and Russell should provide a boost for the Oilers.
• Let McDavid loose. He was held pointless in the Anaheim and LA games, and I feel his is going to have a big performance tonight. With a depleted Dallas lineup, it could be a good opportunity tonight.

Dallas

• Come out strong. The Oilers have been scored upon early lately and have had a tough time rebounding.
• Keep up the momentum. The Stars are getting healthy and are riding a five-game point streak.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Edmonton

• Connor. As I mentioned earlier, I think he is going to have a big night.
• Drake Caggiula. He was a very fun player to watch in the pre-season, and it was a shame he ended up getting injured. Really looking forward to seeing what he brings to the table.

Dallas

• Kari Lehtonen had a big performance on Tuesday and I’m sure they’d like for that to happen again.
• It sounds like Patrick Sharp will return to the lineup tonight. I’ve always been a big fan of his game.

LINEUPS

Edmonton

Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Jesse Puljujarvi

Leon Draisaitl – Drake Caggiula – Jordan Eberle

Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Anton Slepyshev

Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell

Darnell Nurse – Matt Benning

Cam Talbot

Dallas

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Eaves

Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Jason Spezza

Patrick Sharp – Radek Faksa – Lauri Korpikoski

Devin Shore – Adam Cracknell – Brett Ritchie

Dan Hamhuis – John Klingberg

Johnny Oduya – Stephen Johns

Patrick Nemeth – Jordie Benn

Kari Lehtonen
Lineups (subject to change) courtesy The Daily Faceoff (and some twitter sleuthing).

PREDICTION

Oilers win 5-2. Connor McDavid finishes with two goals and an assist, Drake Caggiula gets his first NHL point.

OILERS RIG LIVE4MS

Our 4th annual fundraiser for the MS Society of Alberta is set for January 21, 2017 at The Pint Downtown, at 6:30pm

It’s a Battle of Alberta on HNIC, with the Oilers in Calgary. Puck drop is 8:00pm.

We’ll have a great lineup of silent auction items, as well as raffles throughout the night. We might even have tshirts for sale (but we’ll let you know as we get closer to the date).

All proceeds from the fundraiser go to the MS Society of Alberta.

See you there!