Oilers Gameday – @ Red Wings

The Oilers will look to rebound from a tough loss tonight in Detroit as they concluded a back-to-back set at the Joe Louis Arena. This will be the second and final meeting between the Oilers and Red Wings this season, who met back in January at Rexall Place.

The Oilers will be without F Taylor Hall tonight, along with D Nikita Nikitin. F Benoit Pouliot will be a game-time decision with an illness, while F Anton Lander may return to the line-up from his injury. Keith Aulie is expected to be a healthy scratch, along with Luke Gazdic. The Red Wings will be without F Johan Franzen and D Alexey Marchenko, who are both on the IR.

Ben Scrivens starts for Edmonton, while Jimmy Howard starts for the Wings.

Last Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers last played yesterday in Carolina, in a game which got ugly real quick. The Hurricanes controlled the play in the first period, but Edmonton got on the board first as Jordan Eberle found Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who snapped a shot past Cam Ward.

Jordan Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins each scored on the power-play in the first eight minutes of the second period, but then things got ugly. Alex Semin, Elias Lindholm and Jeff Skinner each scored goals to tie things at three, setting us up for a crazy final period.

The Canes kept the momentum going, as Andrej Nestrasil, Jeff Skinner and Elias Lindholm would give Carolina a 6-3 lead. RNH would complete the hat-trick, but so would Elias Lindholm, setting us up for a 7-4 Carolina victory.

Detroit: The Red Wings were in Boston yesterday to battle the Bruins in a heated Eastern Conference battle. The Red Wings found themselves with an early power-play, but Brad Marchand would score short-handed to turn the tides just under five minutes in. Gustav Nyquist would tie the game moments later, but a David Pastrnak PPG would give Boston a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes.

The Bruins would extend their lead with a pair of Dan Paille goals in the middle frame, and then put the game away in the third period with a Loui Eriksson goal. The Wings would get goals from Luke Glendening and Marek Zidlicky, but it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, as the Bruins would hold on for a huge 5-3 win.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Red Wings last met at Rexall Place in January in a pretty solid affair. The Red Wings dominated the first period shot wise, but Edmonton opened the scoring with a Jordan Eberle power-play marker 15:29 into the tilt. The Wings would tie it 10:44 into the second with a Kyle Quincey goal, and then take the lead with a Justin Abdelkader goal eight minutes later.

Edmonton would tie the game 15:55 into the third with a Jordan Eberle goal, but Detroit would regroup and regain control. Benoit Pouliot would take an awful penalty in the final two minutes, a mistake that proved costly. Pavel Datsyuk would tip-home a shot with just seconds remaining to give the Wings a lead, while Luke Glendening would add an empty netter to seal the 4-2 victory.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Live and let die. Honestly yesterday was flat out embarrassing, and it needs to be buried. Just move on and put your best foot forward tonight. Bring the intensity from Friday night, and try and have a bounce-back effort here. Clear your head, that’s really all you can do after yesterday’s debacle of monumental proportions.

Detroit: The Wings are a dominating puck-possession team, and need to use that skill tonight when attacking offensively. If Detroit can attack the middle of the slot against this weak Oiler defense, then they’ll light that lamp a number of times, and come away with two more points.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Ben Scrivens gets the start tonight, and will look to build off of a very good outing on Friday in Chicago. Can Scrivens finally piece together a few solid starts in a row, and regain his form from last season? I’ll be paying close attention to that tonight. He’ll have to be stellar for Edmonton to have a chance.

Detroit: D Marek Zidlicky was obtained at the trade deadline in a move that not many people talked about. Since that deal, Zidlicky has looked revived, playing a solid and steady game for Detroit. I’ll be watching him tonight to see how he fits with this Cup hopeful in Detroit.

Quick Hits:

Edmonton is currently in the midst of a five game road trip, they are 0-1-1 to this point. The Red Wings currently sit third in the Atlantic division, behind both Montreal and Tampa Bay. Pavel Datsyuk leads the team in scoring, with 54 points in 53 games. The Red Wings swept the season series between the sides last season, and won the previous meeting this year.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Teddy Purcell – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov

Matt Fraser – Anton Lander – Ryan Hamilton

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Rob Klinkhammer

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Martin Marincin – Mark Fayne

Andrew Ference – Jordan Oesterle

Ben Scrivens

Detroit Red Wings Lines:

Luke Glendening – Pavel Datsyuk – Tomas Tatar

Justin Abdelkader – Henrik Zetterberg – Erik Cole

Gustav Nyquist – Riley Sheahan – Teemu Pulkkinen

Drew Miller – Joakim Andersson – Stephen Weiss

Jonathan Ericsson – Niklas Kronwall

Danny DeKeyser – Kyle Quincey

Brendan Smith – Marek Zidlicky

Jimmy Howard