Oilers Gameday – @ Flames

The Oilers conclude the 2014 calender year with a visit to Calgary for the third installment of the Battle of Alberta, a series in which the Flames have won both previous meetings. This will be Edmonton’s second game in as many nights, as the Oil hosted Los Angeles last night.

The Oilers are still without forward Benoit Pouliot, who is close to returning, while the Flames are fully healthy and ready to roll tonight.

Edmonton is likely to turn to Viktor Fasth, while Calgary will go with Jonas Hiller, who beat Edmonton back on Saturday night.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers hosted LA last night in a entertaining game that saw Edmonton actually come out with a purpose and control the pace. Edmonton looked good early, and got rewarded just under five minutes in with a Matt Hendricks goal to open the scoring.

Los Angeles pushed back a bit in the second, but couldn’t solve Ben Scrivens, who stood tall in the middle frame against his old team. Edmonton got a few more good looks, and ended up converting on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins snap shot 9:32 in to go up two goals.

The Kings battled back however, and dominated the third period, out-shooting Edmonton 15-1 and scoring two goals to tie the game, one from Drew Doughty and another from Jake Muzzin, and force overtime.

OT solved nothing, and the shoot-out saw the first seven players get stopped before David Perron beat Jonathan Quick to give Edmonton an unlikely 3-2 win over the defending champs.

Calgary: The Flames also last played the Kings, just two nights ago in Calgary. The Flames came out flying here too, getting a Curtis Glencross goal 12:13 in to break the ice. Markus Granlund added insurance 1:02 later, putting the Flames up 2-0 after the first.

The Kings pushed back hard against Hiller and his Flames in the second, and finally broke through late, 51 seconds left late, to get within one thanks to a Tyler Toffoli goal.

The Kings would out-shoot the Flames 10-5 in the final frame, but couldn’t solve the hot Jonas Hiller, who stopped everything thrown his way to preserve a massive 2-1 win for the Flames, their second win over the defending champs in a week.

Last Meeting:

The last Battle of Alberta game back on Saturday was over before the ten minute mark of the first, as once again Edmonton’s goaltending imploded. Joe Colborne scored a soft goal at the 7:08 mark that basically ended the game, while Johnny Gaudreau added a pair of goals 16 seconds apart just over eight minutes into the frame.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got the Oilers within two 4:23 into the third with a goal, but it mattered not as Curtis Glencross padded Calgary’s lead to 4-1 at the ten minute mark. Hiller would stop 26 Oiler shots en route to the 4-1 win for Calgary, their second over Edmonton this season.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Intensity! The Oilers need to bring it tonight against their top rival, who has owned them in the last few meetings. The Oilers came out flat-footed on Saturday and were done before they knew what was happening. If Edmonton brings it from the start tonight, they’ll have a chance to win this game.

Calgary: Pressure the defense. The Flames did this on Saturday and forced multiple errors by Justin Schultz, Brad Hunt and others that resulted in scoring chances and in goals. If the Flames pressure the weak Oilers’ blue-line again tonight, more mistakes are highly likely, and two points should follow.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Viktor Fasth was embarrassed in his last start on Saturday, and will likely want to get a little pay back tonight. Very rarely does a goalie get this chance, but here we are. I suspect Fasth has one of his better games of the season, proving that Saturday’s five minute nightmare was a fluke.

Calgary: Johnny Gaudreau is taking over the city of Calgary right now, posting tremendous numbers in his rookie season. Johnny Hockey is extremely hot right now and burned the Oilers on Saturday. A continuation of his hot streak is likely in this game.

Quick Hits:

Calgary has won both meetings this season between the sides, who close out their season series in the spring. Oilers forward Benoit Poliout is still out with a broken foot, but is back skating and could return soon. This marks the start of a brief two game road trip for the Oilers, who will be in Colorado on Friday.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

David Perron – Derek Roy – Teddy Purcell

Nail Yakupov – Leon Draisaitl – Matt Fraser

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Tyler Pitlick

Oscar Klefbom – Mark Fayne

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Nikita Nikitin – Justin Schultz

Viktor Fasth

Calgary Flames Lines:

Johnny Gaudreau – Markus Granlund – Jiri Hudler

Curtis Glencross – Sean Monahan – David Jones

Mason Raymond – Joe Colborne – Paul Byron

Brandon Bollig – Matt Stajan – Lance Bouma

Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie

Kris Russell – Dennis Wideman

Raphael Diaz – Deryk Engelland

Jonas Hiller