Oilers Gameday – @ Boston

The Oilers are in Boston tonight, looking to sweep the season series against the Bruins.

Yes, you read that correctly. The Oilers might sweep a season series against a considerably better team. (Of course now that I’ve mentioned it, they’re probably going to get annihilated. Whoops.)

Last Games

Edmonton

The Oilers beat the Rangers 7-5 on Friday night, and it was fitting it was on Glen Sather Tribute Night (or whatever it was called). It wasn’t a great game by either team, but any time you can chase Henrik Lundqvist out of the net is a good night. Lauri Korpikoski (!) scored a hat trick (!!!). Teddy Purcell had a 3 point night. Neon Leon scored 4. And Taylor Hall, king of my heart, had 4 points (which puts him at 34 in 30, for 1.13ppg. Suck on that, haters).

Boston

They beat the Panthers 3-1 on Friday. I’m not sure if that was a hard thing or not because I haven’t watched the Panthers at all. But hey, if the Oilers beat the Bruins, and the Bruins beat the Panthers, the Oilers should someday be able to beat Florida, right? #logic.

Keys to the Game

Edmonton

Um. I’m not even sure what to say about this. I think the Oilers need to tighten up on defence a bit, because they’re not great. And with the insertion of Nikita Nikitin into the lineup, this is sure to be a thing that happens. Or not. I’m not sure that Nikitin is the solution to the problem, but that’s what we’ve got.

All that said, the Oilers have been playing really well and it’s kind of weird that I’m not hate-watching the games anymore. I don’t really know how to react to this kind of hockey, but I like it. And hopefully it keeps going.

Boston

Stay disciplined, which is hard when Brad Marchand is on your team. Probably also keep Hall and Draisaitl to the outside and don’t let them get shots on net, or else they may (will) make you pay.

Players to Watch

Edmonton

Taylor Hall.

Nikita Nikitin is back in the lineup. He’s everyone’s favourite goat, but has actually been playing pretty well in Bakersfield. Maybe that stint in the minors is exactly what he needed? I’m hoping so, anyway.

Boston

Zdeno Chara. Can’t miss him; he’s a giant.

Lineups

Edmonton

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell

Jujhar Khaira – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Lauri (Hat Trick) Korpikoski

Luke Gazdic – Anton Lander – Iiro Pakarinen

Darnell Nurse – Andrej Sekera

Nikita Nikitin – Justin Schultz

Brandon Davidson – Eric Gryba

Cam Talbot

Boston

Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Brett Connolly

Matt Belesky – David Krejci – Loui Eriksson

Frank Vatrano – Ryan Spooner – Jimmy hayes

Zac Rinaldo – Max Talbot – Landon Ferraro

Zdeno Chara – Adam McQuaid

Dennis Seidenberg – Colin Miller

Torey Krug – Kevan Miller

Tuukka Rask

Final Thoughts

I talked a lot about Taylor Hall last time. And I’m going to do it again. He’s the NHL second star of the week. He’s had 6 points in his last 2 games, and seems to be really embracing the leadership role he’s in. Alex Thomas wrote a piece here about Hall, looking at some of the technical aspects of Hall’s game, as well as just how important he is to the team. Matt Henderson over at OilersNation wrote a piece he called “Edmonton’s Beating Heart”, which highlighted some of the more…intangible…aspects of Hall’s game. It was a great hour for me, as I got to read a whole bunch of positive words about my favourite player, and even the idiots in the comments couldn’t bring me down. (In all seriousness, though – shoutout to both these guys for writing down the things I was thinking – they articulated everything I think about Hall without crossing over into creepy old lady obsession territory. I couldn’t have done that.)

Hall’s good at hockey, guys. He really is. I just wish it hadn’t taken some people this long to see it.