Oilers Gameday – @ Blues

Clean the slate and sound the bell, school’s back in baby! The Oilers kickoff what should be a very exciting 2015-16 season tonight in St. Louis with the first of three meetings against the Blues this season. Obviously, the Oilers have changed quite a bit since we last saw the mid-April, naming Peter Chiarelli GM and Todd McLellan Head Coach.

The Oilers also drafted Connor McDavid and added a plethora of strong NHL players like Cam Talbot and Andrej Sekera. The Blues, on the other hand, dealt star TJ Oshie to Washington in exchange for Troy Brouwer and let D Barrett Jackman sign in Nashville.

The Oilers will be without F Jordan Eberle tonight, who is slated to miss another five weeks with a shoulder injury. The Blues come into this game with a healthy roster following training camp.

Cam Talbot makes his first start for the Oilers tonight while Brian Elliott gets the nod for the Blues.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers last took to the ice on Saturday night in Vancouver to conclude their pre-season against the rival Canucks. Vancouver struck early, as Bo Horvat tipped in a Sven Baertschi shot just 3:57 in. The Oilers tightened up after that however, and took control of the game.

Cam Talbot provided some steady play in net, and Edmonton outplayed the Canucks for large stretches, but the Oilers couldn’t solve Ryan Miller in the first forty minutes. That changed in the third period, however, as Benoit Pouliot tied the game 3:08 into the final period off of a feed from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Edmonton would take a lead at the 17:19 mark compliments RNH, but it was short lived as Jannik Hansen would tie things less than a minute later.

In overtime, Henrik Sedin would find brother Daniel just 29 seconds in to give the Canucks the 3-2 edge.

St. Louis: The Blues last played against the Chicago Blackhawks in a pretty lopsided tilt. The Blues found themselves up 1-0 compliments a Dmitrij Jaskin goal just 3:20 in, but a pair of Hawks goals from Dennis Rasmussen and Brandon Mashinter would put the defending champs ahead shortly there after.

The Blues power-play would wake up and tie the game just before the ten minute mark via Troy Brouwer’s tally, while Kevin Shattenkirk would also score on the man advantage to give the Blues a lead at the 17:08 mark.

Jori Lehtera would score a short handed marker in the second period, while Kyle Brodziak would score one in the final frame to put the game away and end the pre-season on a high note for the Blues, 5-2 over their rivals from Chicago.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Blues last met February 28th in Edmonton for what was a closely contested battle. The sides would play a relatively even first period, but the Blues got on the board first thanks to Dmitrij Jaskin’s goal 12:11 into the game.

The Oilers would tighten up and really control the second period, but Brian Elliott would give them fits all evening. Finally, at the 6:31 mark of the middle frame, Justin Schultz would beat Elliott with a nifty wrist shot to tie things up.

Another even period was the forecast for the third, and while Edmonton deserved a better fate, Paul Stastny scored a weak goal at the 14:20 mark that ended up being the difference maker in a 2-1 St. Louis victory.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers, for the first time in a long time, really do look like a fast team out there. The Blues, on the other hand, aren’t exactly the quickest team in the NHL, they are more of a big and physical force. If Edmonton can use that speed to their advantage, they will certainly have some chances to create offense tonight.

St. Louis: The Blues have dominated Edmonton recently, sweeping the last two season series between the club. The biggest reason for that? St. Louis has been able to play a very physical style and really suffocate the Oilers offense. If they can dictate the play with their bodies tonight, then the Blues should start off with a victory.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Everyone will be watching Connor McDavid, but Cam Talbot is the player to watch in my mind. To me, Talbot had an up and down camp for the Oilers while Anders Nilsson stole the show. Is the pressure on Talbot? No, not right now, but I’m interested to see if pre-season was more just shaking off the rust for Edmonton’s new number one.

St. Louis: Vladimir Tarasenko is one of the best goal scorers in the NHL currently, he’s just so much fun to watch. He also had an impact against the Oilers last year, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he rang in the new season with a bit of a bang tonight. I’l be watching one of the lesser known elite forwards in the NHL closely tonight.

Quick Hits:

The Oilers will have two players making their NHL debuts tonight in F Connor McDavid and F Anton Slepyshev. Griffin Reinhart, Andrej Sekera, Eric Gryba, Mark Letestu and Cam Talbot will be making their Oiler debuts, while Troy Brouwer makes his debut for St. Louis. The Oilers elected to name four alternate captains on Wednesday, stripping Andrew Ference of the “C”. Vladimir Tarasenko led the Blues with 73 points in 77 games last season.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Connor McDavid – Anton Slepyshev

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Teddy Purcell

Lauri Korpikoski – Anton Lander – Nail Yakupov

Luke Gazdic – Mark Letestu – Matt Hendricks

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Griffin Reinhart – Eric Gryba

Cam Talbot

St. Louis Blues Lines:

Alex Steen – Paul Stastny – Vladimir Tarasenko

Dmitrij Jaskin – David Backes – Troy Brouwer

Robby Fabbri – Jori Lehtera – Jaden Schwartz

Steve Ott – Kyle Brodziak – Ryan Reeves

Jay Bouwmeester – Alex Pietrangelo

Carl Gunnarsson – Kevin Shattenkirk

Colton Parayko – Robert Bortuzzo

Brian Elliott