The Oilers are in Calgary tonight to take on red-hot Johnny Gaudreau and the Calgary Flames, who are one point ahead of the Oilers (and 11th in the Western Conference).
Last Games
Edmonton
The Oilers played in Vancouver last night, and it did not go well. There were some good things that happened (Hall-Drai-Purcell were buzzing all night even thought they didn’t capitalize, Justin Schultz made that one good play, Cam Talbot was very good until overtime, Mark Letestu scored his 4th of the year, and the Oilers got a point). Unfortunately, there were some not-good things going on, namely Jultz being on the ice for over 27(!) minutes. Pouliot-RNH-Ebs were pretty much invisible except for one scoring chance, the PP was 0/3, and the Oilers were outhit 25-9. (I don’t put much stock in hits as a measure of anything, but that seems like not enough.)
Calgary
The Flames have been off since December 22, so maybe their turkey legs will still be under them. They beat the Jets 4-1 on the back of Gaudreau, who scored a hat trick.
Keys to the Game
Edmonton
SCORE A POWER PLAY GOAL. There, I said it. Their power play has been impotent the last little while, and really needs to get going. The line of Pouliot-RNH-Eberle needs to step up and make something happen. The defence needs…..something (which won’t be Brandon Davidson anytime soon as he was just placed on the IR in favour of Brad Hunt).
Calgary
Keep doing what they’ve been doing, because they’re 8-2-0 in their last 10. I don’t make a point of watching the Flames unless they’re playing the Oilers so I don’t know very much about them except that I hate them.
Players to Watch
Edmonton
Taylor Hall. It’s been a few games since he had a multi-point night and he’s due for another one. I wanted him to score a hat trick last night, but he did not and I was sad. Apparently the HNIC crew is finally starting to notice him, as Craig Simpson (erroneously) claimed that this season was Hall’s breakout. It made my blood boil to hear it because Hall had an 80 point season a couple years ago and if that doesn’t signify breakout, I don’t really know what does. Anyway. Watch him. He’s good.
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau, apparently. I mean, I hear about how good he is, but since I don’t watch the Flames I think he’s a myth. Maybe he’ll get stapled to the boards by Gazdic tonight and be rendered ineffective. Here’s hoping.
Lineups (sorry about yesterday’s. I was way wrong.)
Edmonton
Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell
Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Lauri Korpikoski
Luke Gazdic – Anton Lander – Iiro Pakarinen
Darnell Nurse – Justin Schultz
Andrej Sekera – Mark Faybe
Nikita Nikitin – Eric Gryba
Anders Nilsson
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Joe Colborne
Sam Bennett – Mikael Backlund – Micheal Ferland
Mason Raymond – Markus Granlund – Jiri Hudler
Lance Bouma – Matt Stajan – David Jones
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Kris Russell – Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Wideman – Deryk Engelland
Karri Ramo
Final Thoughts
Oilers Twitter was extra salty last night after the game and I can’t decide if it was because they lost (likely), or because of Jim Hughson’s constant Sedin updates (DID YOU KNOW HENRIK COULDN’T SIT DOWN OR TAKE FACEOFFS?). It was kind of funny, but it got me thinking – what’s going to happen when the Oilers actually get good? Part of the thing about Oilers Twitter is that we all seem to love the company of other Oiler fans who are at least a little miserable because of this team. But what about when we actually have an NHL-calibre defence through all three pairs, and three scoring lines plus a super solid checking line? What will we complain about then?
I’m sure we’ll find things, but I hope that we’ll at least be able to enjoy them more than we hate them. We’re due. We are so due.
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