Oilers Gameday – @ Ducks

The Edmonton Oilers continue a four game road trip today with stop number two. It’s a date with new division rival Anaheim. The Oilers and Ducks meet for the first time this season, and for the first time as Pacific division rivals. The sides will meet a total of five times this season, including twice in the final two weeks of the year.

The Oilers dominated the first decade of this rivalry, but ever since the Oilers five game victory in the West finals in 2006, it has been all Ducks. Anaheim swept the three meetings last year, with all three coming relatively easy to the Ducks. The Ducks are well rested, as they haven’t played since Wednesday night at home.

The Oilers traded goalie Jason Labarbera yesterday to Chicago and activated goalie Ilya Bryzgalov from the IR, who will start tonight. Forward Boyd Gordon returned Friday night and was Edmonton’s best forward, while center Anton Lander got the night off.

Head coach Dallas Eakins indicated this morning that there are a few Oilers forwards banged up and will be game time decisions.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers came crashing back to earth on Friday night in Vancouver in what can only be describing as a debacle. The Oilers were dominated from the opening faceoff by the better Vancouver team. Devan Dubnyk made 14 saves in the first to keep things even at zeros, but Edmonton only mustered four shots on Roberto Luongo.

In the second, Daniel Sedin would fire home a shot on the PP to put the Nucks up 1-0 at the 8:41 mark. Dubnyk would make 11 saves, but Luongo would stop all eight Oilers attempts on net, including a great Ales Hemsky chance.

In the third, Vancouver opened it up, getting goals from Zack Kassian on a tip-in, Chris Higgins, and Dale Weise to go up 4-0. Luongo would stop all 19 Edmonton shots, and secure the 4-0 victory.

Anaheim: The Ducks have been off since Wednesday, when they hosted the Minnesota Wild at the Honda Center. The sides would stay scoreless after one, thanks to great goaltending displays by Josh Harding and Jonas Hiller.

In the second, Alex Grant would score his second of the season to make it 1-0 just 2:37 in, while Corey Perry would score his 21st eleven minutes later to make it 2-0. Hiller would stop all seven Wild shots, and would hold the Ducks two goal lead heading to the third.

Jason Pominville would score 3:48 in, but it simply wouldn’t be enough as Jonas Hiller would stand strong, stopping six Wild shots in the third to seal the 2-1 victory for the Ducks, who remain undefeated in regulation at home this season.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Ducks met three times last year, and it was ugly for Edmonton. The last meeting came at Rexall Place in April, and it wasn’t pretty for the Oilers.

The Ducks got a Ryan Getzlaf goal on the power-play just 6:13 in, and then quickly added an insurance marker with a Radek Dvorak goal five minutes later. Viktor Fasth would stop all nine Edmonton shots, and the game was basically out of reach for the sinking Oilers just 20 minutes in.

Devan Dubnyk would keep Edmonton in it with a perfect, five save, second period, but the Oilers simply couldn’t generate chances against the bigger Ducks.

Anaheim put it away for good 3:55 in with a Sami Vatanen goal. Fasth would make eight saves in the period to complete the 24 save shut-out, and the Ducks would clinch the Pacific division title with their 3-0 win over Edmonton, which also completed a season sweep.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Part of me wonders if this will be one of the final games for Sam Gagner in Edmonton. I’m starting to get the feeling that a split could be near between the two. It might be best for both sides at this point anyway. Gagner has struggled in all but a few games since coming back. He’s been dropped to the fourth line too might I add. That being said, I kind of expect Gagner to have a decent night tonight and quiet everyone down.

Anaheim: Corey Perry is a special player, and he is showing why again this season. The former NHL MVP is on a tear this season, and already has 21 goals. This guy is on a mission, and is a sure-fire lock for Team Canada in two months. I suggest Oilers fans pay close attention to this stud player, who is exactly the type of forward that is lacking from Edmonton’s current depth chart.

Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers Lineup:

Taylor Hall – Mark Arcobello – Ales Hemsky

David Perron – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Jesse Joensuu – Boyd Gordon – Nail Yakupov

Luke Gazdic – Sam Gagner – Ryan Jones

Anton Belov – Jeff Petry

Andrew Ference – Philip Larsen

Nick Schultz – Justin Schultz

Ilya Bryzgalov

Anaheim Ducks Lineup:

Dustin Penner – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Kyle Palmieri – Nick Bonino -Teemu Selanne

Daniel Winnik – Saku Koivu – Andrew Cogliano

Matt Belesky – Dave Steckel – Tim Jackman

Cam Fowler – Ben Lovejoy

Alex Grant – Hampus Lindholm

Sami Vatanen – Bryan Allen

Jonas Hiller