When the puck drops for game 39 of the Edmonton Oilers’ season tonight, the Orange and Blue will be looking to perform a monumental task against the scorching hot Columbus Blue Jackets: Get a win.
Columbus is fresh off an impressive victory against another remarkably good team, the Minnesota Wild, and as a result have a massive 15 game win streak to boast ahead of tonight’s game. They have not lost since November 26th, putting together a flawless month of December. Insane.
A road win for the Oilers tonight would be more than just a statement, it would be a blaring siren of success from the top of a 25 story building.
The Oilers will have a few lineup adjustments taking place, while sending out Cam Talbot between the pipes. Sergei Bobrovsky will get the nod for the Jackets.
Keys to the Game
Edmonton Oilers:
- Watch the Turnovers! Against the Canucks, the Edmonton Oilers gave the puck away way too many times, often resulting in golden opportunities against. Luckily for the Oilers, Vancouver was only able to score once off of a bad turnover, but tonight, against a team that has been able to find the twine a ton, they will not be so lucky if they make the same mistakes.
- Draw Penalties, Score on the Power Play! Edmonton now has the 7th best Power Play in the league, operating at 21.6% on the season. In their previous game, Edmonton looked deadly with the man advantage and it was the sole reason why they were able to muster a point. Tonight, against a goalie that owns a .934 save & and 1.95 goals against average, scoring at 5 on 4 may be one of the only ways.
- Stay Disciplined! The Oilers have a good Power Play, but Columbus is better, sitting at the top of the league in that metric at 27.4% on the season. The last time these two teams met (Dec 13th, 3-1 win for CBJ), the Jackets scored 2 with the extra man.
Columbus Blue Jackets:
- Do Much of the Same, but Stay out of the Penalty Box. It’s hard to suggest anything other than, “keep doing the same thing” for a team that has won 15 in a row. They average the most goals per game, they average the 3rd least goals against per game, they own the league’s best Power Play, and have a Vezina candidate in net. One of the few blemishes on the record? A below average penalty kill. Against the Oilers, too many trips to the sin bin could cost them.
Players to Watch
Edmonton Oilers
- Connor McDavid: Fresh off some last minute heroics, McDavid will be looking to start 2017 with a bang. The month of December was quiet for him, but that certainly doesn’t mean that January will be the same. The chances are coming, they just need to go in. With Patrick Maroon back on his left side, that may just be enough to do it. Worth noting: McDavid has been much better on the road than at home this season.
Columbus Blue Jackets
- Seth Jones: The 22 year old defender has put together an outstanding season so far and has 16 points (7 goals) to show for it in 29 games. Jones has routinely been playing north of 20 minutes a game, so it will not be hard to miss him. Great story of success for him after being traded by Nashville almost exactly a year ago.
The Expected Lines
Edmonton Oilers
Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Leon Draisaitl
Benoit Pouliot – Drake Caggiula – Jesse Puljujarvi
Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian
Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell
Brandon Davidson – Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
Columbus Blue Jackets
Brandon Saad – Alexander Wennberg – Nick Foligno
Boone Jenner – Brandon Dubinsky – Cam Atkinson
Scott Hartnell – William Karlsson – Josh Anderson
Matt Calvert – Lukas Sedlak – Sam Gagner
Zach Werenski – Seth Jones
Jack Johnson – David Savard
Markus Nutivaara – Ryan Murray
Sergei Bobrovsky
Points of Interest
It’s often said that you can tell when a winning streak is going to end when the team doing the winning starts to win games that they shouldn’t.
The last 2 games have seen Columbus deserve to win, so tonight will not be a case of the Jackets playing on wobbly feet. If the Oilers do manage a win, it will be against an exceptional opponent that has yet to slow down.
For the Oilers, they will be getting Andrej Sekera back who has missed the last two games with illness. Andrej Sekera was on fire before the break, putting up a bunch of points in December, and getting his point total up to 17 on the season.
Sekera, who has been the team’s best defenseman all season, will be a massive boost for the club looking to beat the streak.
As stated above, Todd McLellan has adjusted the Oilers forward lines as well, putting Maroon back with McDavid ad sending Lucic to play with Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins.
Maroon and McDavid will ook to find the spark that was present late in last season, while Draisaitl and Nuge will look to get Lucic involved in their recently excellent play.
Prediction
The Oilers haven’t had much success against the East this season, but they have been good on the road. Additionally, over their last 14 games, they have only lost twice in regulation.
I’ll split the middle and say that this game goes to Overtime sitting at 2-2. In the final 30 seconds, McDavid comes up clutch yet again, and scores on a breakaway.
The streak will be killed and a million Undertaker/WWE jokes will be made. It will be fantastic.
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