Oilers Gameday – @ Ottawa

The Oilers are back in action against Ottawa tonight, looking to build a bit of a win streak on the heels of a 5-1 (!) win over Columbus on Tuesday night.

Last Games

Edmonton

Wow. Wow wow wow. Connor McDavid is back in the lineup and he is back in a BIG way. After missing 37 games with a broken clavicle, McDavid stormed back into the lineup, scoring what is (at this point) the goal of the season, and adding 2 assists.

HHHHHNNNNGGGGGGG #WelcomeBackConnorpic.twitter.com/dwZw0zcloK

— Jeanshorts (@JSBMjeanshorts) February 3, 2016

I’m just going to leave that there, and watch it a dozen more times.

Ottawa

The Sens lost 6-5 to Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, and I seem to recall seeing not not-great reaction to their play from a Twitter friend (@NKB121). You should give him a follow; today he was live-tweeting being locked out of his building in shorts.

 

Keys to the Game

Edmonton

GET THE PUCK TO CONNOR, apparently.

Also….power play, cycle the puck better, yadda yadda yadda.

Connor is the solution.

Ottawa

Don’t let Connor get the puck. Seriously. That’s the key.

 

Players to Watch

Edmonton

Obviously, watch Connor. He’s incredible. I got to see him play live on Halloween, and he’s sublime. I don’t know if there’s a better word to describe what he does on the ice than that. Everything seems effortless for him – he skates like the wind, can clearly stickhandle through 3 opponents, and makes magic with the puck. With apologies to the poet Miriam Waddington

Is he real or
did someone invent
him …?

Schultz is probably back in the lineup, and maybe Davidson. Also watch Taylor Hall, for reasons.

Ottawa

Ummmm. Erik Karlsson is very good at hockey (and a pretty stand-up guy). He’s another smooth-skating D-man, and I anticipate he’ll be out most of the game against either Hall’s line or McDavid’s line. I really like watching him skate, though so that should be fun.

 

Projected Lineups

Edmonton

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell

Benoit Pouliot – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle

Zack Kassian – Mark Letestu – Nail Yakupov

Lauri Korpikoski – Matt Hendricks – Iiro Pakarinen

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne

Brandon Davidson – Eric Gryba

Darnell Nurse – Justin Schultz

Cam Tal-Bot

 

Ottawa

Mike Hoffman – Mika Zibanejad – Bobby Ryan

Zack Smith – Jean-Gabriel Pgeau – Mark Stone

David Dziurzynski – Curtis Lazar – Alex Chiasson

Shane Prince – Max McCormick – Chris Neal

Marc Methot – Erik Karlsson

Mark Boroweiecki – Cody Ceci

Jared Owen – Chris Wideman

Craig Anderson

Final Thoughts

Before Tuesday’s game, singers and drummers from the Alexis First Nation performed a song for the Oilers. The video has been seen hundreds of thousands of times, there’s been stories in national media, on the Huffington Post and elsewhere. You can check it out below. I, for one, would love to see these guys on the Rexall ice performing this before a game.

 

 

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