The Oilers conclude their three game road trip tonight as they take the ice in Los Angeles to face the Kings for the fourth of five meetings this season between the teams. This will be the second and final meeting at Staples Center this season.
Both Matt Hendricks and Boyd Gordon are expected to return for the Oilers tonight, meaning F’s Matt Fraser and Luke Gazdic are likely to be scratched, while D’s Mark Fayne and Andrew Ference are out. Meanwhile, the Kings will be without F Tanner Pearson.
Ben Scrivens starts for Edmonton, while Jonathan Quick starts for Los Angeles.
Last Games:
Edmonton: The Oilers last took the ice last night in Anaheim against the Ducks. The young and inexperienced Oilers were, for a lack of a better term, dominated by a physical, experienced Ducks team.
The Oilers made countless mistakes that ended up in the back of the net, starting with a defensive break-down that led to a Francois Beauchemin goal 3:43 in. Nate Thompson would add insurance at the 9:59 mark, which is all the Ducks would need.
Corey Perry and Simon Despres would each add markers for the Ducks in the second period, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would counter for the Oilers. Andrew Cogliano added salt in the wound with a penalty shot goal in the third period, while Frederick Andersen would stop 22 shots to preserve the 5-1 victory.
Los Angeles: The Kings were in the windy city on Monday night to battle the Hawks in a potential playoff match-up. Chicago would dominate this hockey game, getting after the Kings early and often. Bryan Bickell would open the scoring 5:31 in, but Jake Muzzin would tie things late in the period to keep LA alive.
The Hawks would take over in the second however, getting goals from Duncan Keith at the 1:37 mark and Niklas Hjalmarsson at the 2:47 mark to officially take the game over.
Marian Hossa would put things away 13:06 into the third, while Scott Darling would stop 31 shots to preserve the 4-1 Blackhawks victory.
Last Meeting:
The Oilers and Kings last met on March 3rd at Rexall Place in a game dominated by the visiting team. The Kings stuck it to Edmonton early, peppering Ben Scrivens with shot after shot. LA would finally get on the board with a Matt Greene point shot at the nine minute mark, and they would never look back.
Trevor Lewis would score in the final minute of the period to put LA up two, while Jeff Carter would add the final dagger 2:18 into the middle frame. Luke Gazdic would get Edmonton within two, but Kyle Clifford would quickly respond to restore LA’s three goal lead.
Anze Kopitar and Teddy Purcell would trade third period tallies, leaving us with a dominating 5-2 victory for Los Angeles.
Keys To The Game:
Edmonton: Live and let die for the Oilers. Last night was just an awful showing for Edmonton, they need to simply forget about it and get back to playing their game. If they can do that, they’ll have a fighting chance against a Kings team that, quite frankly, looks mortal.
Los Angeles: Play your physical style tonight. The Ducks did it last night and completely controlled the game against Edmonton. The Kings have the size and skill to completely dominate the Oilers in this one. Use it, and they’ll walk away with two massive points.
Players To Watch:
Edmonton: F Jordan Eberle continues to create things, as he picked up another assist last night. Eberle hasn’t had much success against the Kings however, and must change that. Will Eberle finally break through against this team? It’ll be worth watching tonight.
Los Angeles: F Anze Kopitar always dominates the Oilers when they play. His combination of size, speed and skill is simply incredible. He’s a lot of fun to watch, and is underrated as one of the best in the game. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this superstar tonight.
Quick Hits:
The Oilers are 1-1-0 on their current three game road trip. This is the last multi-game trip of the season. Edmonton and Los Angeles will conclude their season series in Edmonton next week. Andrew Miller’s three game point streak was snapped last night, but Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returned to the stat sheet. The Oilers last win against the Kings came on December 30th, 2014, a 3-2 shoot-out win. Kings F Anze Kopitar leads the team with 60 points in 73 games.
The Lines:
Edmonton Oilers Lines:
Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Teddy Purcell – Derek R
oy – Nail Yakupov
Taylor Hall -Anton Lander -Andrew Miller
Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Rob Klinkhammer
Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz
Martin Marincin – Nikita Nikitin
Keith Aulie – Brandon Davidson
Ben Scrivens
Los Angeles Kings Lines:
Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Dwight King – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Trevor Lewis – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford – Nick Shore – Jordan Nolan
Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez – Robyn Regehr
Brayden McNabb – Matt Greene
Jonathan Quick
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