Oilers Gameday @ Arizona: Panik Setting In

After a mini-break, the Oilers are back in action tonight in Scottsdale Glendale to take on Richard Panik and the Arizona Coyotes.

It’s probably safe to assume that in October, no one saw this coming for the Oilers. That a game in Arizona in January might put the final nail in  the coffin, and yet here we all are.

In order to hit 95 points the Oilers need 56 points over their final 38 games, which works out to playing at a 121 point pace. that means they STILL need to win 28/38 games IN REGULATION to get a sniff.

If they want to repeat last year’s success, they’ll need to go on a 33-5 run it doesn’t look like that’s happening anytime soon.

Keys to the Game

Edmonton

• Just win. It’s so insane that it needs to be repeated, but the Oilers need to win a game and then another and then another. And it starts tonight in Arizona, because of course it does.

Arizona

• Score some goals and get pucks to the net and wheel a little bit and win for the 11th time this season. (You might laugh, but there’s a very real possibility that the Coyotes will beat the Oilers.

Players to Watch

Edmonton

• On nights when Connor McDavid is quiet, it feels like the Oilers are the NHLs version of The Replacements – at some point they all played hockey well but it’s not apparent that they remember how to do so.

Arizona

• The Coyotes recently traded Anthony Duclair for Richard Panik, so the Oilers get to see Panik for approximately the 9th time in the last couple weeks.
• Max Domi is pretty good, so maybe he’ll be fun to watch.

Projected Lineups

Edmonton

Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl

Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jesse Puljujarvi

Jujhar Khaira – Ryan Strome – Mike Cammalleri

Drake Caggiula – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian

Darnell Nurse – Adam Larsson

Oscar Klefbom – Matt Benning

Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell

Cam Talbot

Arizona

Brendan Perlini – Derek Stepan – Richard Panik

Tobias Rieder – Max Domi – Christian Fischer

Clayton Keller – Christian Dvorak – Josh Archibald

Jordan Martinook – Brad Richardson – Nick Cousins

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Alex Goligoski

Jakob Chychrun – Niklas Hjalmarsson

Kevin Connauton – Jason Demers

Antti Raanta

Notes

There’s not a lot to say. This is a bad team and things need to change. Unfortunately the wrong things will change (like can someone please explain how and why Drake Caggiula isn’t trade bait but Anton Slepyshev is), but this organization won’t be the same.

It’s time to get rid of the rot and it needs to start at the top.