DALLAS STARS @ EDMONTON OILERS
PUCK DROP: 6:08 PM MT/ 8:08 PM EST
WATCH: EDMONTONOILERS.COM LISTEN: 630 CHED
It’s finally here, the final pre-season game on the schedule! The Oilers host the Dallas Stars at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. It’ll be Edmonton’s final test before Tuesday night’s opener against the Jets, and will feature most of the expected opening night lineup for the Oilers.
From the Dallas side of things, this line-up doesn’t exactly feature their opening night unit, and looks more like an AHL unit to me. Tyler Seguin, Shawn Horcoff, Jaime Benn and top defenders Trevor Daley and Alex Goligoski will miss the action. Erik Cole, another former Oiler, will also miss the game for Dallas, who appears to be resting their key guys in their pre-season finale.
EDMONTON OILERS
Players To Watch: Keep an eye on the Oilers top line of Ryan Smyth, Taylor Hall and Ales Hemsky. They’ve been together all camp and have looked good. They’ll most likely start the season together too on Tuesday night. I’m also interested in watching how David Perron and Nail Yakupov look together tonight up front.
Phil Larsen has had a good camp and could be fighting for a spot in the lineup come Tuesday. He’s most likely made the roster, which is a surprise to me to begin with. I’ll be interested in him on the third pairing tonight. Steve MacIntyre will make his debut in stint number three for the Oilers tonight too. I think we see him drop the gloves this evening.
Line-up:
Ryan Smyth-Taylor Hall-Ales Hemsky
David Perron-Boyd Gordon-Nail Yakupov
Jesse Joensuu-Marc Arcobello-Jordan Eberle
Steve MacIntyre-Will Acton-Mike Brown
Ladislav Smid-Jeff Petry
Andrew Ference-Justin Schultz
Anton Belov-Philip Larsen
Devan Dubnyk
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is still out with his shoulder injury, and at this point it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to go on Tuesday. No real surprise there. Ben Eager and Nick Schultz are the healthy scratches tonight for Edmonton. Devan Dubnyk will start, and will play the full 60 minutes barring something unforeseen.
DALLAS STARS:
Players To Watch: First round draft pick Valeri Nichushkin was a guy I was hoping Edmonton would draft at the seven spot, but he ended up falling to Dallas. He’s a very talented player and has some size. It’ll be my first time truly watching him, so I’m very interested to see. On the back-end, I’m looking at forward Brett Ritchie, who has been turning some heads in the AHL, and could make a run at a roster spot.
Young defender Jaime Oleksiak is another player I’m very interested in seeing. Kid has tons of potential and talent, and should start taking the next step this season. Kari Lehtonen is always a fun goalie to watch, and hopefully he’ll get into the game tonight, although that seems highly unlikely. The Stars are also dressing heavy weight fighter Luke Gazdic, who I’m willing to bet fights Big Mac.
Line-Up
Lane MacDermid-Cody Eakin-Valeri Nichushkin
Ryan Garbutt-Vern Fiddler-Brett Ritchie
Antoine Roussel-Chris Mueller-Colton Sceviour
Luke Gazdic-Travis Morin-Alex Chiasson
Kevin Connauton-Jamie Oleksiak
Brendan Dillon-Maxim Fortunus
Patrik Nemeth-Jyrki Jokipakka
Dan Ellis
Enjoy the game everyone! Follow along on twitter @Alex_Thomas14 for in game updates!
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