Oilers Gameday – @ New York Rangers

The Oilers are in New York tonight to face the Rangers (who, if you remember) they beat 7-5 on Friday night. They are going for their 7th straight win (which, now that I’ve pointed it out probably means that they lose. My bad.)

So, uh… Playoffs?

Yes.

— Are Oil in Playoffs? (@Oilers_Playoffs) December 15, 2015

Last Games

Edmonton

Well… I didn’t watch the game last night against Boston, but I got a play by play text update (commercials included – it is as amazing as you think it is), and from what I can tell, the following happened:

• Taylor Hall got zero points. I am sad.
• Jordan Eberle had a 3 point night. Good for him.
• Brad Marchand is the worst.
• Zdeno Chara is a giant. Called it.
• There are a lot of commercials for diamonds in Oilers broadcasts.
• There are also a lot of commercials for Oilers hockey during Oilers broadcasts.
• LottoMax is $60 million this week

The Oilers did win, though, in overtime. I saw the last 5 minutes and OT, and while I can’t comment on the rest of the game, what I saw was a lot of frantic play in the defensive zone. That’s definitely a thing we need to sort out, and I hope it’s coming soon. The forwards on this team are too good to be handcuffed by bad defence.

New York

The Rangers are on a 3 game skid, and it’s kind of amazing. They lost on Saturday to the Flames, but have had a couple days’ rest since then. They should be better than the Oilers, and will probably come out with a little more pep since they’re not on the second night of back to back games. I say should, because they SHOULD have rolled into Edmonton and left with a win, but that didn’t happen either, despite scoring 5 goals on Saturday. (For the record, in this winless skid, the Rangers have been outscored 14-10. 10 goals in 3 games should be getting you points.)

Keys to the Game

Edmonton

More pucks on net. No one in last night’s game in Boston had more than 3 shots on goal (team total of 24). That’s probably not enough.

From the little I did see, it looked like the Bruins had the Oilers well off their game. If they want to contend, they need to stick to their own gameplan, whether at home or on the road.

New York

Let’s be honest. they need to beat the Oilers. They can’t let the lowly (3rd in the Pacific Division) Oilers beat them twice in less than a week. They just can’t.

Players to watch

Edmonton

Taylor Hall. Always. (I’m hoping for another multi-point night so that he can shut up even more of his critics.)

Bobby Klinkhammer might be back in the lineup tonight (at least according to Jim Matheson on Twitter).

I also happen to like watching Draisaitl play. Kid’s got some serious skill and when he and Taylor Hall are clicking, things are GOOD.

New York

Look for Lundqvist to bounce back tonight against the Oilers. I hope we don’t give him reason to laugh at us like we did last year, but I can’t imagine he’ll be getting chased from the net against the Oilers two games in a row.

Lineups

Edmonton

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell

Jujhar Khaira – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Lauri Korpikoski

Rob Klinkhammer/Luke Gazdic – Anton Lander – Iiro Pakarinen

Darnell Nurse – Andrej Sekera

Nikita Nikitin- Justin Schultz

Brandon Davidson – Eric Gryba

Anders Nilsson

New York

Rick Nash – Derick Brassard – Mats Zuccarello

Chris Kreider – Oscar Lindberg – Jesper Fast

Viktor Stalberg – JT Miller – Kevin Hayes

Tanner Glass – Dominic Moore -Emerson Etem

Marc Staal – Ryan McDonagh

Keith Yandle – Dylan McIlrath

Brady Skjei – Dan Boyle

Henrik Lundqvist

Final Thoughts

As of today, the Oilers occupy a playoff spot. Let’s ignore, for a minute, the fact that the Pacific division is an absolute tire fire, and enjoy the Oilers being in 3rd spot in that division. In a playoff spot. In December. Meaningful hockey in December, guys. That’s what we’ve wanted right? Hopefully it’s going to translate into meaningful January and February and March hockey, but I’m not going to put the cart before the horse.

I will say this, though: It’s really nice that we’re getting points in games that last season we would have lost outright.

My Twitter pal Kevin said it best:

Oilers playing poorly and getting undeserved wins DEFINITELY beats Oilers playing well and losing games they deserved to win.

— No StarWars spoilers (@sportsjunkie007) December 15, 2015

It’s been fun, so far. Just wait until Yak and Pouliot and McDavid are back. What a time to be alive.