Oilers Gameday – @ Jets

Ten, yes we are up to ten games now. The Oilers are closing in on a historic losing streak, but look to stop the bleeding tonight in Winnipeg, the site of a quick one game road trip to battle the Jets. It’ll be the first meeting between the sides on the season, who met only once in Winnipeg last year, back on Hockey Day in Canada.

Even though he cleared waivers on Monday, Jesse Joensuu is still on the team’s active roster and is in Winnipeg skating with the Oilers. He’s likely to sit out tonight however. The Oilers have shaken up their lines, and outside of the banged up Matt Hendricks, are healthy. The Jets aren’t battling any injuries of significance right now.

Ben Scrivens returns to the net for Edmonton tonight, while Ondrej Pavelec starts for the Jets.

Last Games:

Edmonton hosted Arizona on Monday, and actually played a really solid first twenty minutes. The Oil were rewarded with a Jordan Eberle goal early in the frame, and led 1-0 after one. Everything went downhill in the second however, as Tobias Rieder scored two shorthanded goals under a minute apart to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mikkel Boedker also added tallies to give the Yotes a 4-1 lead after two.

Martin Erat would add salt to the wound with a power-play goal 2:03 into the frame, which put the game away for all intents and purposes. Jeff Petry got Edmonton a goal 4:21 into the frame, but it was far too little too late, as Mike Smith would shut the door to give Arizona a 5-2 victory.

The Jets last played in Boston on Black Friday, and played a hard and physical style that gave a banged up Boston team all it could handle. Big Dustin Byfuglien blasted home a goal on the power-play to open the scoring 16:24 into the game, rewarding the Jets for a fast start and dominating first period.

Boston and Winnipeg would battle scoreless from that point until the third period, where Milan Lucic would beat Michael Hutchinson with an easy tap-in minutes into the frame. Hutchinson and Tuukka Rask would both stand tall the rest of the way, forcing overtime. In the extra frame, Boston took the game over and got a blast from Dougie Hamilton to give them a hard earned 2-1 victory.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Jets last met in January of last year on Hockey Day in Canada in Winnipeg in a back and forth tilt. The Jets dominated the shot clock for the first twenty minutes, but Ilya Bryzgalov stood tall, holding the Jets off the scoreboard.

Jordan Eberle put home a wrist shot 6:59 into the second period on a great power-play chance to put Edmonton up 1-0, while Bryzgalov would again slam the door shut in the middle frame, keeping the Jets at bay. Winnipeg finally solved Bryz in the third however, as Jacob Trouba got a shorthanded chance which he converted on. Five minutes later, Mark Scheifele put a shot behind Bryzgalov to give the Jets a lead.

David Perron would tip home a Jeff Petry shot in the final minutes to force overtime, but a horrible Oilers defensive mistake allowed for Jacob Trouba to put home the game winning goal just 1:10 into the extra frame.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: All hands on deck tonight. Forget about the X’s and the O’s, these guys need to bring an effort tonight. Clearly, there are some passengers in that room, and that won’t work. Everyone in the lineup needs to show up and work their ass off to have a chance tonight. Sometimes, effort is better than talent. Tonight, tonight is one of those nights.

Winnipeg: The Jets are an interesting team, but do have one weak link, goaltending. Pavelec has been good this year, but has been seeing the shots more than ever. The Oilers can kill you with their skill down low, but can’t do much from the outside. For the Jets, their key is to allow Pavelec to see the shots. They do that, and he’ll be able to shut down the Oiler attack.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Tyler Pitlick was moved up to the first line this morning, and will be skating with Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He doesn’t have the skill of those guys, but has the ability to create space, and is good enough offensively where he can survive. I’d keep an eye on the young forward, who must start to show that he is a legit NHL player.

Winnipeg: Evander Kane is a stud, he’s one of the best pure goal scorers in the NHL today, there is no doubt in my mind about that fact. Kane’s offensive ability is through the roof, and he’s taken a real step as a total player this year. He’s easily the Jets’ best forward, and will be well worth watching tonight. Something tells me he will have some sort of impact on this game.

Quick Hits:

Edmonton has lost ten games in a row, their worst losing skid of the season and worst in the NHL this season. The Oilers have also failed to beat a western conference team this season, breaking a league record for the worst start against a team’s own conference in NHL history. The Jets won the season series last year, two games to one. Winnipeg won on opening night and in the last meeting in January, Edmonton won the game last December at Rexall Place.

Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Tyler Pitlick

Nail Yakupov – Leon Draisaitl – Jordan Eberle

David Perron – Boyd Gordon – Teddy Purcell

Luke Gazdic – Mark Arcobello – Steve Pinizzotto

Nikita Nikitin – Mark Fayne

Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz

Oscar Klefbom – Jeff Petry

Ben Scrivens

Winnipeg Jets Lines:

Andrew Ladd – Bryan Little – Blake Wheeler

Evander Kane – Mathieu Perreault – Dustin Byfuglien

Adam Lowry – Mark Scheifele – Michael Frolik

Chris Thorburn – Jim Slater – Anthony Peluso

Mark Stuart – Jacob Trouba

Ben Chiarot – Zach Bogosian

Adam Pardy – Paul Postma

Ondrej Pavelec