Oilers Game Day – @ Washington

The Oilers dropped a heart breaker on Saturday night 6-5 in OT against the Toronto Maple Leafs to kick off their six game road trip. Good news is that the Oilers got a point, but the bad news is they blew a lead four times, got awful goaltending and weren’t that great defensively. It was a game they should have won, but it’s a game they could have been better in.

Tonight they get another shot in Washington.

The Oilers face Washington for the first time since October of 2011, when the Oilers knocked off a Washington team that was undefeated heading into Rexall Place. Tonight the Oilers will look to knock off a team that is struggling just as they are.

Edmonton Oilers:

The Oilers enter this game with a 1-3-1 record through five games, and are looking to gain some momentum on this road trip. The Oilers offense looked good Saturday scoring five times, but their defense and especially goaltending was pretty bad, allowing six goals in an OT loss. The Oilers sit last in the west with just three points, and must start winning games soon.

This is the second game of a six game trip for Edmonton, in which it is a must that they come back with at least six points.

Nail Yakupov will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game. While people are making a huge deal out of this, I’m not. I think this is the right move. He’s a young kid and very talented, but is currently struggling to be a complete player. It’s Eakins decision, and one that I think is a good one. The kid is a huge part of the team moving forward and must learn to play the team’s style.

This is a tough-love kind of thing, which is exactly how Eakins likes to do it.

No shock, Devan Dubnyk is out of the line-up after Saturday’s debacle and Jason LaBarbera gets the reins. No other changes in the Oilers lineup for tonight.

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Ales Hemsky

Ryan Smyth – Mark Arcobello – Jordan Eberle

Jesse Joensuu – Boyd Gordon – David Perron

Luke Gazdic – Will Acton – Mike Brown

Anton Belov – Jeff Petry

Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz

Ladislav Smid – Nick Schultz

Jason LaBarbera

Washington Capitals:

The Caps come into tonight with a 1-4 record on the season, and are desperately trying to change things around. This off-season, Washington lost a key cog in their attack when center Mike Ribeiro signed with the Coyotes. They replaced him with Mikhail Grabovski, who has been terrific in the early going.

Washington’s offense has been okay to this point, while their defense and goaltending is just about as rough as Edmonton’s currently is right now. Hope you liked Saturday’s shinny style game, because Washington could be bringing the same kind of style to the table tonight that the Leafs did on Saturday.

Alex Ovechkin has been good again so far, and is one of the best players in the world today. It’s a treat watching this guy play, and tonight will probably be no different.

Braden Holtby gets the start tonight and he, like Devan Dubnyk, is looking to regain his former form. Let’s just hope he doesn’t do it tonight against the Oilers.

Marcus Johansson – Nicklas Backstrom – Alex Ovechkin

Brooks Laich – Mikhail Grabovski – Troy Brouwer

Jason Chimera – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward

Martin Erat – Jay Beagle – Tom Wilson

Karl Alzner – Mike Green

Alexander Urbom – John Carlson

Nate Schmidt – Steven Oleksy

Braden Holtby