The Edmonton Oilers clash with their provincial rivals for the fourth time this season. The Oilers have won the first three meetings between the games winning the opening two games of the season by scores of 7-4 and 5-3, before defeating the Flames 2-1 in a shootout on January 14.
It is also the second night of a back to back that saw the Oilers fall to the tired Nashville Predators 3-2 in the shootout.
Considering the Oilers didn’t give their best effort last night, they should have a lot left in the tank.
Oilers rookie Laurent Brossoit will get his first start of the season as they Oilers finally reward Cam Talbot with a break after his 42-save performance last night.
Chad Johnson starts for the Flames.
Keys To The Game:
Edmonton: The Oilers will need to push the pace early and keep it going throughout the 60 minutes. The Oilers were owned most of the game against the Predators and they will need to use their physical prowess to stay in the game, especially in front of a rookie goalie.
Calgary: Take advantage of what should be a tired team. It’s a big advantage for an opposing team to take advantage of their opponents on the second half of back to back nights.
Players To Watch:
Edmonton: Milan Lucic had his coming out party as an Edmonton Oiler last night, and arguably was the biggest reason (Cam Talbot aside) that the Oilers were able to get a point. Lucic came alive when he used his fists, body and stick to contribute to the team. With the Battle of Alberta in need of a spark, Lucic should be able to provide.
Calgary: Mathew Tkachuk has been on a roll for the Calgary Flames. The youngster already has some bad blood with the Oilers for his slew foot on Brandon Davidson in the season opener. He’ll be his pesky self.
The Lines:
The Oilers are likely to ice the same lineup, with the only question mark being if the Oilers decide to play Gryba considering the game is against a heavy team.
Edmonton Oilers Lines:
Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid -Leon Draisaitl
Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Milan Lucic – Drake Caggiula – Anton Slepyshev
Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian
Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell
Brandon Davidson – Matt Benning
Laurent Brossoit
Calgary Flames Lines:
Matthew Tkachuk – Michael Backlund – Michael Frolik
Johnny Gaudreau – Sam Bennett – Alex Chiasson
Kris Versteeg – Sean Monahan – Troy Brouwer
Lance Bouma – Matt Stajan – Michael Ferland
Mark Giordano – Dougie Hamilton
TJ Brodie – Dennis Wideman
Jyrki Jokipakka – Deryk Engelland
Chad Johnson
Game Notes:
We all know what everybody is hoping for from this Battle of Alberta, and that is for it to regain a spark. This is an important game for both teams in their playoff drives.
It will be a very special game for a lot of our readers and contributors as we will all be together to watch this game at The Pint Downtown 10125 109 Street in Edmonton Alberta. This is our website’s fourth annual MS Society of Alberta Fundraiser!!!!!!
There will be a silent auction, a jersey raffle and a 50/50 draw!
This will also be veteran Matt Hendricks’ 500th career NHL game. Right on Hendo!
Prediction:
The Edmonton Oilers have owned the Flames so far this season and that continues tonight.
The Oilers were starting to come alive playing a physical game against Nashville and they continue that trend. Playing in front of a rookie goaltender should be motivation enough for the team to bring a better effort than they did against the Predators.
Oilers win 3-2 in overtime because I really believe every single game will likely go into overtime for the rest of the year.
Oilers get goals from Lucic, Nugent-Hopkins and an OT winner from Leon Draisaitl.
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