Oilers Gameday – @ Ducks

The Oilers return to the ice tonight in Anaheim to battle the Ducks in the fourth and final meeting between the sides on the season. This will be the second meeting in Anaheim on the year, with the previous meeting coming back in December. This is game two of a three game road trip for the Oilers.

Edmonton F’s Matt Hendricks and Boyd Gordon are both questionable for tonight, while D’s Andrew Ference and Mark Fayne are both out. Meanwhile, Anaheim will be without F Tim Jackman, who is currently on the IR.

Ben Scrivens starts for Edmonton, while John Gibson starts for Anaheim.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers last took to the ice on Monday in Denver in a pretty even tilt against Colorado. The Oilers opened up by dominating the first period, and got rewarded with a Brandon Davidson goal off of an Anton Lander feed at the 4:49 mark. Colorado would push back and tie things with a Ryan O’Reilly goal at the 13:18 mark, keeping us even after twenty.

The Avalanche pushed hard in the middle frame, but Richard Bachman stood tall, stopping all eleven shots against while his team regained the momentum. Justin Schultz blew past Nate Guenin and beat Semyon Varlamov with a back-hand shot 15:28 in that gave Edmonton a lead they would not lose.

Bachman would stop eight more Colorado shots in the third, while Nikita Nikitin and Taylor Hall would both score to push the lead to 4-1, which would be the final as Edmonton won their third game in a row.

Anaheim: The Ducks last took to the ice on Sunday night in New Jersey as they battled the Devils. Anaheim played a perfect road-game, smothering New Jersey’s offense all night long and converting on their few chances. Ryan Kesler opened the scoring 17:07 in, and that was all the Ducks needed.

John Gibson would stop all eleven Devil shots fired his way in the second period to keep his team up by a goal, allowing them time to provide the insurance marker. Francois Beauchemin did just that 1:39 into the third period, as he rifled a shot home.

Dainius Zubrus would get the Devils within one at the 16:35 mark, but Gibson would shut-it down from there, cementing the Ducks big 2-1 record victory.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Ducks last met in late February at Rexall Place in a closely contested tilt. The Ducks dominated the first few minutes, getting a power-play and the game’s first goal thanks to a Francois Beauchemin blast. After that, however, it was all Edmonton. The Oilers peppered John Gibson the rest of the period, and worked their way back into things.

The Oil were rewarded with the tying goal just 28 seconds into the middle frame, as Teddy Purcell put home a shot off of a Nail Yakupov feed. Edmonton kept pushing, but couldn’t solve Gibson. Gibson’s 26 saves would prove to be enough, as Ryan Getzlaf took advantage of a Justin Schultz mistake and beat Scrivens 12:47 into the third period to give Anaheim a close 2-1 victory.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Come out flying in this one. The Ducks just returned from a lengthy eastern road trip, while the Oilers are riding a high right now. If Edmonton can keep the juices flowing and stick it to the Ducks in the first ten minutes of this game, they’ll have a chance to win this hockey game.

Anaheim: Use the body tonight. Anaheim is big and skilled, they play a power game with the ability to put the puck in the net. They bully teams, and Edmonton is a team that usually gets bullied. If the Ducks come in throwing their body around in this game, they’ll easily snag the two points.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: F Taylor Hall has been a point-per-game player since his return to the line-up, and has turned Edmonton’s third line into an actual threat. Can he keep it up, especially against a good hockey team? I’ll be very interested to see if he can do that.

Anaheim: F Ryan Getzlaf has two game-winning goals against Edmonton this season, and has dominated the Oil all year long. He’s big, he’s physical, and he’s skilled. Simply put, he’s a nightmare to handle. Will Getzlaf keep his dominance of the Oil up? I’ll be watching that tonight.

Quick Hits:

The Oilers are 5-1-1 in their last seven hockey games, their best such streak of the season. Their current three game winning streak is their best since a four game streak back in October. Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins both had their point streaks snapped Monday, but Andrew Miller extended his to three games. Edmonton’s last win against Anaheim was on April 6th, 2014, a 4-2 decision. Ryan Getzlaf leads the Ducks with 68 points in 75 games.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Teddy Purcell – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov

Taylor Hall – Anton Lander – Andrew Miller

Matt Fraser – Rob Klinkhammer – Luke Gazdic

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Martin Marincin – Nikita Nikitin

Brandon Davidson – Keith Aulie

Ben Scrivens

Anaheim Ducks Lines:

Jiri Sekac – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Tomas Fleischmann – Ryan Kesler – Kyle Palmieri

Patrick Maroon – Rickard Rakell – Jakob Silfverberg

Andrew Cogliano – Nate Thompson – Chris Wagner

Hampus Lindholm – Francois Beauchemin

Cam Fowler – Sami Vatanen

Simon Despres – James Wisniewski

John Gibson