Oilers Gameday – @ Bruins

The Oilers continue their five game road trip tonight in Boston, looking to snap a three game losing streak against the banged up Boston Bruins. The Oilers are reeling, without top weapon Taylor Hall and making the same glaring mistakes that killed them a season ago. Edmonton enters tonight having not beaten the Bruins in over a decade.

The Oilers will be without forward Taylor Hall, who is suffering from a knee injury, and defender Andrew Ference, who is serving a three game suspension. The team also waived center Will Acton on Wednesday, and will replace him with rookie Iiro Pakarinen. The Bruins are without defenders Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug and Kevan Miller, and likely will be without center David Krejci.

Ben Scrivens slides back into net for Edmonton, while rookie Niklas Svedberg is expected to go for the Bruins.

The Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers last played Tuesday in Philadelphia, and it looked a lot like they forgot to actually start their road trip. Edmonton was dominated in the first period, and found themselves trailing as a result. Red-hot Jakub Voracek scored a pair of goals, one at the 3:59 mark on a wraparound, and one at 16:04 on a rebound, to put the Flyers up 2-0.

Philly would add insurance on a total breakdown by the Oilers at the 4:09 mark of the second as Pierre-Edouard Bellemare somehow sneaked a shot past Viktor Fasth. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would score a beauty moments later, but it was only a stat padding goal. Luke Schenn scored off a feed from his brother at the 12:01 mark that put the game away.

Steve Mason stopped ten Oiler shots in the final frame to put the game away, giving Philly a massive 4-1 victory on home ice.

Boston: The Bruins hosted old pal Shawn Thornton and the Panthers at home on Tuesday in a close tilt that saw the banged up B’s battle hard. The first period was a scoreless and even frame, but Florida broke the ice in the middle twenty with a Jussi Jokinen goal at the 4:04 mark. Patrice Bergeron, as he always does, led the charge to tie things however, and evened the score at the 7:29 mark.

Both Tuukka Rask and Roberto Luongo were perfect in the third period, setting both teams up with a point and a date with some extra hockey. The Bruins dominated the overtime period, and were rewarded with a beautiful Brad Marchand goal at the 3:27 mark to claim another gritty win.

The Last Meeting:

The B’s and Oilers last met back in February at the TD Garden in Boston in a game that can only be described as a blowout in favor of the home side. Edmonton came out flat footed, but got nine Ben Scrivens’ saves to keep the game even at zero.

The Bruins continued their domination and finally broke through at the 2:06 mark of the second period as David Krejci blasted home a goal. Scrivens would stand tall the rest of the period, but Edmonton wouldn’t even challenge the Bruins with a scoring chance the rest of the frame.

The third period was when the dam broke. Boston scored three quick goals, compliments Dougie Hamilton, Carl Soderberg and Torey Krug. Chad Johnson would stop all twenty-two shots to complete a shut-out, giving Boston a 4-0 win and a sweep of the season series.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: The Bruins defense is weak right now. The team is lacking Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug, and Kevan Miller, which is a huge chunk of the unit. The Bruins struggle with speed, it’s how Montreal has beaten them so much recently. Edmonton has speed, and if the Oilers can use it to their advantage tonight, they might just find a way to beat this Bruin team.

Boston: Honestly, and this is sad, the Bruins key tonight is to just show up. These Bruins are SO much better than the Oilers it isn’t even funny anymore, it’s a sick and twisted joke. The Bruins have elite goaltending, a terrific system, and depth up front that Edmonton could only dream of. If this team shows up tonight and plays to their potential, which isn’t a sure thing, then they will easily come away with two points.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: The Oilers badly need someone to step up, and there really isn’t a better person than former Bruin Benoit Pouliot. Pouliot was promoted to the top-line to replace Taylor Hall, and has a golden chance to make his mark on this team. Pouliot looked just okay on Tuesday, but a solid effort tonight would go a long way. I’ll say he responds with a good game.

Boston: So many options, but only one clear choice. Patrice Bergeron is in a class of his own, and is a player I’d kill to have in orange and blue. Bergeron can put up points and make plays, but is also one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL, and is an elite two-way player. We see a lot of Jonathan Toews, but not nearly enough of this guy. Keep an eye on him tonight folks, he’s a special player.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Iiro Pakarinen – Mark Arcobello – David Perron

Teddy Purcell – Leon Draisaitl – Nail Yakupov

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Jesse Joensuu

Nikita Nikitin – Justin Schultz

Oscar Klefbom – Mark Fayne

Keith Aulie – Jeff Petry

Ben Scrivens

Boston Bruins Lines:

Milan Lucic – Chris Kelly – Seth Griffith

Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Reilly Smith

Matt Fraser – Carl Soderberg – Loui Eriksson

Daniel Paille – Greg Campbell – Simon Gagne

Dennis Seidenberg – Dougie Hamilton

Joe Morrow – Adam McQuaid

David Warsofsky – Zach Trotman

Niklas Svedberg