The Oilers conclude a set of back to back games with a date against the Wild this afternoon in Saskatoon. The Oilers are a perfect 4-0 on the pre-season and are coming off of a 4-3 overtime win in Winnipeg last night. Anton Slepyshev scored his first of the exhibition season 2:43 into extra time to complete Edmonton’s crazy comeback.
The Oilers will switch their lineup today, as Connor McDavid, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are all expected to play after taking last night off. Anders Nilsson is expected to start and play the entire game for Edmonton.
On the other side of the tape, the Wild will not be playing star players like Thomas Vanek or Zach Parise.
Player To Watch:
Goalie Anders Nilsson will play the full game tonight, an excellent chance to prove his worth and make a case for the backup job. Ben Scrivens played a decent game on Friday night, meaning Nilsson needs a very strong outing to gain ground.
He was tremendous last Monday in Calgary, perfect actually. If he can duplicate that in this game, then Nilsson will be setting himself up to win a roster spot. I’m very intrigued to see how he handles the full sixty minutes tonight.
Story To Watch:
Connor McDavid returns to the lineup after five days off following his debut back on Monday. One of the most debated things during camp has been who will play with McDavid, tonight we’ll get closer to the answer. Will it be Hall and Draisaitl again, the two guys he finished with on Monday night?
Will another player get a chance with the rookie, perhaps Jordan Eberle, Benoit Pouliot or even Lauri Korpikoski? We’ll get a good look this afternoon. On top of that, I’m looking forward to getting another live look at McDavid, I thought he was very good against the Flames on Monday night.
Training Camp Battle To Watch:
Iiro Pakarinen is a player that I had making the roster out of camp, but he has yet to play this pre-season. Pakarinen is battling an injury and has no doubt lost ground in the battle for a roster spot. Two players who have made strides in this department in the opposite direction are Tyler Pitlick and Andrew Miller.
Miller provides speed, smarts and skill while Pitlick has all the tools needed to be a solid bottom-six forward, his issue is health. Rob Klinkhammer, Luke Gazdic and even Anton Slepyshev are all battling for bottom of the roster spots right now as well.
I’ll be watching whichever of these players are in the lineup today, because cuts are likely coming and these guys are fighting for one more audition to make this hockey team.
Oilers Lines (Estimated):
Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Taylor Hall – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl
Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Greg Chase
Anton Slepyshev – Bogdan Yakimov – Matt Ford
Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz
Griffin Reinhart – Eric Gryba
Andrew Ference – Joey LaLeggia
Anders Nilsson
Final Notes:
The lines above are an estimation by myself. The Oilers have not yet made anything official with the roster outside of McDavid and Nilsson playing today. Jordan Eberle hinted that his line will play, while I’d imagine McDavid gets Hall and Draisaitl even though they played last night.
Dillon Simpson, Martin Gernat, Iiro Pakarinen, Teddy Purcell and Mitch Moroz are all nursing injuries for the Oilers right now, although Purcell’s isn’t considered major at this time.
The Oilers will be making roster cuts tomorrow before they return to Edmonton for a game against the Coyotes on Tuesday night.
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