Oilers Gameday – @ Blackhawks

The Oilers kick off a massive four game road trip tonight against the defending Stanley Champion Chicago Blackhawks. This will be the first of three meetings between the clubs, who will play again next week in Edmonton.

The Oilers will be without F Connor McDavid, F Rob Klinkhammer and D Justin Schultz, who are all on the IR. D Brandon Davidson and D Andrew Ference will also be healthy scratches tonight. The Blackhawks will be without injured D Duncan Keith, who is on the IR with a knee injury.

Cam Talbot starts for Edmonton tonight while Corey Crawford gets the nod for Chicago.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers hosted the Penguins on Friday night in a tale of two games. The Penguins dominated the first twenty minutes, firing 15 shots on net, but the sides were still tied at zero. Oscar Klefbom and Daniel Spring traded goals in the middle frame, setting us up for an intense final period.

The Oilers would get many glorious chances, they hit four posts, but they simply couldn’t solve Jeff Zatkoff. Phil Kessel would fire home a power-play goal at the 9:45 mark, and Zatkoff would hold the fort to seal the 2-1 Penguins win.

Chicago: The Hawks played in New Jersey on Friday night in a game they’d like to forget. The Devils got three first period goals, one a piece from Lee Stempniak, Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac.

Mike Cammalleri and Patrick Kane each traded goals in the middle frame, keeping the Devils clearly in command of this game. Tanner Kero scored at the 18:34 mark of the final frame, but it was nothing more than a garbage time goal as the Devils hung on to win 4-2.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Hawks last met in March in Chicago. The Oilers fired 47 shots on net throughout the night, but had a tough time solving Corey Crawford. Derek Roy opened the scoring 15:15 into the first.

Brent Seabrook would tie the game 13:58 into the third, forcing us to overtime. OT solved nothing, as the sides headed to the shootout. In the shootout, Corey Crawford would go perfect, while the Hawks would solve Ben Scrivens once to take the 2-1 decision.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Sustain some pressure. The Oilers had some really good looks on Friday night against Pittsburgh, but I didn’t feel like they were able to sustain anything. If they can put pressure on Chicago, just like New Jersey did on Friday, they’ll find a way to get some goals.

Chicago: Win the battles. Edmonton still struggles to win those big puck battles, while Chicago is the best team in the league at them. If the Hawks win those battles tonight, they’ll win this game going away.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Mark Fayne returns to the Oilers lineup tonight after missing the last three games as a healthy scratch. Fayne isn’t a sexy player, but he’s a solid defender who should calm things down for the Oilers tonight. I’ll be interested to see how he handles his first game back.

Chicago: Marian Hossa returns to the Chicago lineup tonight, and that’s bad news for the Oilers. Hossa has dominated Edmonton over the years with his size, speed and skill. Tough to imagine he’s a non-factor tonight, meaning he’s a player to watch.

Quick Hits:

Tonight’s game is the Oilers first national game in the United States since the fall of 2013, the game will be on NHL Network. D Mark Fayne is making his first appearance since Edmonton’s win over the Montreal Canadiens on October 29th. Cam Talbot is making his first start since Halloween night against the Calgary Flames.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Jordan Eberle

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Nail Yakupov

Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Teddy Purcell

Anton Lander – Andrew Miller – Iiro Pakarinen

Oscar Klefbom – Mark Fayne

Darnell Nurse – Andrej Sekera

Griffin Reinhart – Eric Gryba

Cam Talbot

Chicago Blackhawks Lines:

Artemi Panarin – Jonathan Toews – Ryan Garbutt

Teuvo Teravainen – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane

Marko Dano – Tanner Kero – Viktor Tikhonov

Andrew Desjardins – Marcus Kruger – Andrew Shaw

Viktor Svedberg – Brent Seabrook

Niklas Hjalmarsson – Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Trevor Daley – Erik Gustafsson

Corey Crawford