Oilers Gameday – @ Minnesota

Thursday night was, uhmmm, not fun if you are a fan of the Edmonton Oilers. The team blew a pair of two goal leads, including a 5-3 lead in the third period, and lost in regulation time to the Flyers. As I wrote last night here, it was probably the most deflating loss of the season for the club.

The Oilers won’t have anytime to dwell on the Philadelphia debacle, however, as tonight they finish their three game road trip in Minnesota against the Wild. This is the second of three meetings between the sides, who met this past Sunday night in Edmonton, a 2-1 Minnesota victory in overtime.

Cam Talbot gets the nod for Edmonton, while Devan Dubnyk goes for the Wild.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers have to watch the outside tonight. In Philadelphia, the Flyers were able to drive into the zone from the outside and get to the net with retaliative ease. The worst case of this was on the game winning goal, when Oscar Klefbom was easily discarded by Flyer forward Michael Raffl. The Oilers have to tighten up tonight.

Minnesota: The Wild have to do exactly what they did on Sunday night and clog the slot up. After Patrick Maroon opened the scoring in that game, Edmonton maybe got three or four good looks on Devan Dubnyk the rest of the way. If the Wild keep the Oilers to the outside and to the point, they should take this game.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Cam Talbot is going to have to be sensational tonight for the Oilers. A night after Jonas Gustavsson blew the game, Talbot gets the nod in what is a scheduled loss for the club. I’ll be interested to see how Talbot, who wasn’t great on Tuesday, plays tonight behind a tired team.

Minnesota: Mikko Koivu scored the game winning goal on Sunday night and was all over Edmonton for the 60+ minutes of game action. He’s well rest while the Oilers are quite the tired bunch. I expect the skilled and gritty center to have his way with an injured and inexperienced Oiler defense tonight.

The Lines:

Jesse Puljujarvi comes out of the lineup tonight as Tyler Pitlick comes back in. Puljujarvi played under ten minutes again last night and I’m firmly on the side of sending the young Finn to the AHL. This current role simply isn’t going to help develop him. I also must say I’m stunned that Matt Hendricks remains in the lineup. He was awful in Philadelphia and made a few key mistakes. Anton Slepyshev should be in over him.

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Milan Lucic – Connor McDavid – Drake Caggiula

Patrick Maroon – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Benoit Pouliot – Leon Draisaitl – Tyler Pitlick

Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian

Kris Russell – Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera – Matt Benning

Oscar Klefbom – Dillon Simpson

Cam Talbot

Minnesota Wild Lines:

Zach Parise – Eric Staal – Charlie Coyle

Jason Zucker – Mikko Koivu – Mikael Granlund

Nino Niederreiter – Erik Haula – Jason Pominville

Chris Stewart – Tyler Graovac – Kurtis Gabriel

Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin – Matthew Dumba

Marco Scandella – Nate Prosser

Devan Dubnyk

Game Notes:

Since their 7-1-0 start to the season, the Oilers are an underwhelming 7-9-4. The most frustrating part? Edmonton has left points on the table in about five of those games. It’s not crazy to think the Oilers have shot themselves in the foot to the point where they have cost themselves the top record in the West. Now? Now they are in a tight playoff race.

This concludes a three game road trip for Edmonton, which can actually be saved with a victory tonight. Two points in Minnesota would give the Oilers a total of three points on this road trip. They’ll still have left points on the table, but three of six points wouldn’t be the end of the world. This is an important game for Edmonton.

The Oilers have just one regulation loss against the central division this season, which came back in November against the Dallas Stars.

Prediction:

The Oilers routinely get beaten by the Wild, and usually get smacked around in Minnesota. To put it politely, it is not a fun spot for Edmonton, and it hasn’t been since the Wild entered the NHL. The Xcel Energy Center has been a house of horrors for the Edmonton Oilers.

Tonight won’t be any different, as the Wild top Edmonton 5-2. Eberle and Maroon will score for the Oilers, while Koivu (2), Staal, Suter and Gabriel net goals for the Wild.