Oilers Gameday – @ Canucks

The Oilers conclude a back-to-back set tonight in Vancouver against the hated Canucks. It’ll be the fourth meeting between the sides, and the third in Vancouver. The Canucks also played last night, but were at home against the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Oilers broke a six game losing streak last night with a dominating win over the Nashville Predators, which saw Ryan Smyth tie Wayne Gretzky for second most PP goals in team history. Ben Scrivens recorded his first win as an Oiler as well. Forward Ales Hemsky, still battling a lower-body injury, will miss the game. He could return Wednesday against San Jose, or Saturday in Boston.

Forward Mark Arcobello missed last night’s game against the Preds, and will likely take the seat up top again tonight, as the fourth line was very effective without him in the win. Andrew Ference is also expected to sit out with a head injury he suffered on Friday night.

The Canucks are still without coach John Tortorella, who is serving his 15 day suspension. The team is also without forward Henrik Sedin, who has been battling an upper-body injury. Defender Ryan Stanton has returned from an injury and is expected to be in the lineup tonight.

The Oilers will turn to Ilya Bryzgalov tonight after Ben Scrivens got the start last night, while the Canucks will start Roberto Luongo for the second night in a row.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers were in action at home last night against the Nashville Predators. The Oilers got going early, and never really looked back. They got an early lead as Ryan Smyth found a wide-open Justin Schultz at the 2:59 mark. A bad Martin Marincin pinch would set-up a two-on-one which David Legwand would deposit past Ben Scrivens to tie the game at one.

The Oilers didn’t fold however, and regained the lead with 12 seconds left as Taylor Hall fed Jordan Eberle in front, who simply tapped in goal number 18. The Oilers kept the pressure on in the second, and got a PP goal 10:12 in as Ryan Smyth would bang home a rebound in the crease. Just over six minutes later, Sam Gagner would set up Nail Yakupov, who snapped a shot past Hutton.

The Predators started a major push back in the third, and dominated the period, but it simply wasn’t enough. Ben Scrivens stood tall, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added a PP goal to seal a rare Oilers victory, 5-1 over the Preds.

Vancouver: The Canucks hosted the Phoenix Coyotes last night in a game where the Canucks were their own worst enemy. The Nucks dominated the first, and were rewarded with the game’s first two goals. Kevin Bieksa and Janik Hansen scored 44 seconds apart, but Antoine Vermette closed the gap with an odd goal only 27 seconds later.

In the second, Vermette scored his second with a SHG 9:07 in to tie things up. The Canucks struck back however, as Chris Higgins would tip-in a Hamhuis shot at 16:59. Vancouver’s pop-gun offense continued as Zac Dalpe scored on his own rebound to make it 4-2 less than a minute after the Higgins goal. Vermette would again make it a one goal game, completing the hat-trick at 19:05.

The Coyotes kept the crazy game going, as Shane Doan would beat Luongo on a break-away 5:24 in to tie things up, and send them into OT. In the extra frame, Kevin Bieksa would score an odd goal on his own rebound to secure a strange 5-4 home win.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Canucks met up last Tuesday in Edmonton in a game where Roberto Luongo helped steal the show for the visitors. Vancouver was clearly the better team in the first, and got rewarded with a Kellen Lain goal five minutes into the game. Edmonton would push back, but Luongo would shut the door.

In the second, the Oilers got some real good looks, especially on the PP, but simply could not find the back of the net. Zack Kassian would however, as he snapped a wrist shot past Scrivens 7:59 into the frame. The Oilers would actually be the better team the rest of the way in this game, getting some good chances late in the second.

The Oilers would finally get on the board in the third, as Taylor Hall would find Jordan Eberle, but it simply was not enough. Edmonton could not solve Roberto Luongo the rest of the night, and as a result the Canucks would seal the 2-1 victory on the road.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers forward Ryan Smyth is on the cusp of history. The veteran forward scored a PPG last night to tie him with Wayne Gretzky for the second most goals with a man-advantage in team history. He’s just one away from tying Glenn Anderson for the record, and he’ll be worth watching tonight just for that.

Vancouver: Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo will be starting his second game in a row. The stats say this is not a good idea, but Luongo has done well in back to back tilts this season. He was absolutely terrific last week in Edmonton, and I’ll be very interested to see if he can replicate that in his second start in 24 hours.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

David Perron – Sam Gagner – Nail Yakupov

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Ryan Jones

Luke Gazdic – Ryan Smyth – Jesse Joensuu

Martin Marincin – Jeff Petry

Nick Schultz – Justin Schultz

Anton Belov – Corey Potter

Ilya Bryzgalov

Vancouver Canucks Lines:

Chris Higgins – Ryan Kesler – Alex Burrows

Daniel Sedin – Zac Dalpe – Zack Kassian

Jannik Hansen – Brad Richardson – Dale Weise

David Booth – Kellen Lain – Tom Sestito

Chris Tanev – Dan Hamhuis

Alex Edler – Kevin Bieksa

Ryan Stanton – Jason Garrison

Roberto Luongo