Game Day – Oilers Vs Red Wings

Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and the Detroit Red Wings come in to Rexall tonight to face a hurting Oilers squad. The Wings were in Calgary last night and secured two more points with a 4-3 victory. Detroit now sports an 8-4-2 record this season and is sitting fourth in the east behind Toronto and Pittsburg.

The Oilers on the other hand haven’t played since Tuesday, a loss to the Maple Leafs, and are dealing with some significant injuries to key players. We learned yesterday that David Perron is unlikely to play, instead of being a pain in the neck to opposing players he has some pain in his and requires an MRI. There are other injuries still to Talylor Hall, Uncle Jesse Joensuu, Tyler Pitlick and Ryan Hamilton. Though there is a very slim chance that Smyth plays tonight, albeit doubtful.

Oh and wait it gets worse, it appears that defenseman Justin Schultz is dealing with some pain and appears he will be a game time decision tonight, in the mean time the Oilers have called up Philip Larsen.

The Oilers lines are going to be hard to predict today, but I’ll give it a shot.

Up Front

Jones – RNH – Eberle

Yakupov – Gagner– Hemsky

Arcobello – Gordon – Hamilton

Gazdic – Acton – Eager

On the Blueline

Smid – Petry

Belov – Larsen

Ference – N. Schultz

Between the Pipes

Devan Dubnyk
Richard Bachman

*Again this is my prediction on what the lines could look like, but you just never know. I could see Lander and Eager switching spots as well as Arcobello and Gagner, but all this proves is the team REALLY needs Taylor Hall back.

The Winged Wheels

Detroit is not without their injuries either. Backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson is injured and there is a chance that Mrazek will get his first start of the season tonight. Johan Franzen left last night game against Calgary with the flu presumably and will be a game time call. Darren Helm has been injured since last season but I heard somewhere he may draw back in tonight, and big d-man Jonathan Ericsson will not make this one with a partially dislocated shoulder.

Up Front

Zetterberg – Datsyuk – Bertuzzi

Cleary – Weiss – Alfredsson

Tatar – Helm – Abdelkader

Miller – Andersson – Eaves

On the Blueline

Kronwall – DeKeyser

Quincey – Smith

Kindl – Lashoff

Between the Pipes

Petr Mrazek

Again if Franzen can go then he will play second line center and Weiss and Helm will move down and Andersson out.

*Lines taken from dailyfaceoff.com

What to Watch For

• Nail Yakupov is probably going to get a tone of minutes tonight. It will be interesting to see how he handles them and if he can contribute offensively.
• The Oilers have had three days without a game and a solid two days of practice. I’d watch for the team to come out of the gate guns blazing trying to take advantage of a Detroit team that played last night.
• This is the only time the Wings will be in Edmonton this year, since the team moved to the Eastern conference the Oilers will only get a home and away against them. Maybe that’s a good thing.
• Wings goalie Petr Mrazek isn’t your average third string goalie, he backstopped Detroits AHL affiliate to a championship last year, and was selected as the best goalie in the 2012 World Junior Championship. Just watch the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TVpMrFNzOY]

#GOILERS

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