Oilers Gameday – @ Maple Leafs

The Oilers open a six game road trip tonight in Toronto against the Maple Leafs in the first of two meetings between the sides this season. This will open Edmonton’s lone Eastern Canada trip this year, while the Leafs are closing out a back-to-back set that started in New Jersey last night.

Edmonton will be without F’s Taylor Hall and Benoit Pouliot, who are both day-to-day, and D Nikita Nikitin, who is out a minimum of four weeks. The Maple Leafs are minus D Dion Phaneuf, who was placed on IR Saturday, while G Jonathan Bernier is a game time decision with an illness.

Viktor Fasth will start for Edmonton, while James Reimer is set to start for the Leafs at the moment.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers hosted the powerhouse Penguins on Wednesday night, and for forty minutes sat around watching the highly skilled Pittsburgh offense. Edmonton mustered only 12 shots through the first two periods, while the Pens fired 24.

Viktor Fasth stood strong through the first twenty, but was beaten by Evgeni Malkin just seconds into the middle frame. David Perron scored on a deflection with less than a minute left in the frame, all but putting the tilt away.

Edmonton would fight back in the third period, but it just wasn’t good enough as Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all ten shots fired his way en route to a 2-0 shut-out win.

Toronto: The Leafs were in New Jersey last night for a tilt with the Devils. New Jersey came out flying, and never really let off the gas in this game. They dominated the first period, and got rewarded with a Tuomo Ruutu goal at the 9:32 mark.

The Devils would extend their lead 1:23 into the middle frame with a Patrik Elias goal, and then added more insurance twelve minutes later with a Steve Bernier marker that basically put the hockey game away.

The Leafs would get on the board with a Tyler Bozak PPG mid-way through the third period, but Jaromir Jagr would restore the three goal lead and Cory Schneider would hold the fort to give the Devils a 4-1 win.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Leafs last met in October of last year at Rexall Place in a wacky game that just didn’t follow the rules of sanity. The Oilers came out flying, dominating the Leafs all night on the shot clock and the chance clock. The problem is, James Reimer was up to the task all night.

The Leafs opened the scoring just 1:08 in with a Phil Kessel goal, then padded their lead in the second period with a James Van Riemsdyk goal and another Kessel marker.

Nazem Kadri would rub salt in the wound in the third period, while Reimer would stop all 43 Oiler shots for an impressive 4-0 shut-out win over Edmonton.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers have to attack tonight. The Maple Leafs defense is just as bad as theirs, and Toronto has been getting some spotty goaltending as of late. If Edmonton can use it’s skill to attack the Leafs in the offensive zone, then they should be able to get two points against this struggling team.

Toronto: The Maple Leafs must be able to play physical with the Oilers tonight. Edmonton struggles against physical teams, and the Leafs have some guys that can bang and contribute on the score sheet. If those guys, namely JVR and David Clarkson, get going, then Toronto will snag two points here.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: F Teddy Purcell will get a spin on the top-line tonight. He’s been playing good as of late, but hasn’t been producing a ton of offense. Tonight is his best chance, playing with RNH and Eberle. I’ll say he gets going tonight with a goal, and I’ll be watching him.

Toronto: F David Clarkson was a big target of Edmonton’s back in the summer of 2013. Clarkson, so far, has been a huge bust for the Leafs, but he possess the kind of skill set that usually dominates against the Oilers. I’m not sure why, but I just have a feeling that this guy will wake up tonight.

Quick Hits:

Toronto has lost a franchise worst eleven games in a row, going 0-10-1 in that span. The Leafs also recalled G Antoine Bibeau and D Petter Granberg on an emergency basis from the AHL earlier today. The Oilers recalled D Martin Marincin on Thursday, and will play him tonight in place of Keith Aulie. F Taylor Hall is still day-to-day.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Teddy Purcell – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Iiro Pakarinen – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov

Matt Fraser – Anton Lander – Luke Gazdic

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Rob Klinkhammer

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Martin Marincin – Mark Fayne

Viktor Fasth

Toronto Maple Leafs Lines:

James Van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel

Richard Panik – Nazem Kadri – David Booth

Joffrey Lupul – Mike Santorelli – Daniel Winnik

Leo Komarov – Peter Holland – David Clarkson

Jake Gardiner – Cody Franson

Morgan Rielly – Roman Polak

Korbinian Holzer – Stephane Robidas

James Reimer