Oilers Gameday: @Arizona

Today is one of the busiest on the sports calendar in Canada. There’s the 107th Grey Cup, Davis Cup tennis to watch but also Oilers hockey as they continue their current road trip. Last night saw the Oilers bounce back nicely vs the Vegas Golden Knights to the tune of a 4-2 win.

In the victory, Connor McDavid put up two goals while Leon Draisaitl added three helpers as the two studs in orange and blue continue to sit 1-2 in NHL scoring.

Tonight, the Oilers are in Arizona to face the red hot Coyotes, the squad just three points back of them for the Pacific Division lead.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Get that jump early. Edmonton got a goal before the six-minute mark of the first in Las Vegas and they need it again in Arizona. In a divisional game on the road, you need to put the Coyotes backs against the wall and not let them get settled into this one.

Arizona: Let Phil be Phil. Kessel has 14 points on the season and has been fitting in nicely with points in four of his last five games. Let hin drive that first line.

Players To Watch: 

Edmonton: Ethan Bear continues to impress many in his rookie season, he tallied his four-goal of the year last night and has been coming into early season Calder discussions. I’m expecting more of his steady play vs the Coyotes.

Arizona: One of the best stories on the Coyotes has to be the rise of Conor Garland. The 5th round pick in the 2015 draft has worked his way up in the Arizona system and now second in team scoring and leads the team with 10 goals this year. Tonight he’s the face in red to focus on.

The Projected Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Leon Draisaitl – Connor McDavid – Zack Kassian
Jujhar Khaira – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – James Neal
Joakim Nygard – Riley Sheahan – Josh Archibald
Markus Granlund – Gaetan Haas – Alex Chiasson

Darnell Nurse – Ethan Bear
Oscar Klefbom – Caleb Jones
Kris Russell – Adam Larson

Mikko Koskinen

Arizona Coyotes Lines:

Lawson Crouse-Carl Soderberg-Phil Kessel

Christian Dvorak-Nick Schmaltz-Conor Garland

Barrett Hayton-Derek Stepan-???*

Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Jason Demers

Jacob Chycrun-Alex Goligoski

Aaron Ness-Jordan Osterle

Darcy Kuemper

(*No word yet on third-line right winger for Arizona)

Game Notes:

Last night, Connor and Drai became the first pair of teammates to reach the 45 point mark by their team’s 25th game since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr did it in 95-96. The odds of them becoming the first teammates to finish 1-2 in league scoring since the Pens legendary duo continues to increase.

Opening faceoff in Arizona is at 6PM Mountain.