WINNIPEG JETS @ EDMONTON OILERS
PUCK DROP: 8:00 PM MT/10:00 PM EST
WATCH: CBC
LISTEN LIVE: 630 CHED
It’s here friends, Edmonton Oilers opening day is officially here. The team hosts the Winnipeg Jets tonight at Rexall Place, kicking off a season that brings hope, new expectations and hopefully, some winning. There’s a lot of anticipation for this game and this season, so tonight should be a very interesting game.
Both the Oilers and Jets are trying to break long playoff droughts, and will be determined to get off on the right foot starting tonight.
EDMONTON OILERS:
The Oilers enter this game in an odd spot. They’ll be without top centers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Sam Gagner for this game, and the next cluster of games. RNH is being hinted as ready for mid-October, while Gagner is reportedly ahead of schedule and is looking at 4-6 weeks now instead of the original 6-8. Not all bad news there.
A number of Oilers will be making their debuts tonight. New comers Jesse Joensuu, Boyd Gordon, Will Acton, David Perron, Luke Gazdic, Anton Belov and Andrew Ference will all be in the lineup tonight, while Dallas Eakins coaches his first game at the NHL level. Should be very interesting to see how these guys fare in night one with their new club.
Devan Dubnyk will start for the Oilers, while we can expect Taylor Hall’s line to also get the opening puck-drop. Looks like Smid and Petry start things off on the blue-line.
KEYS TO THE GAME:
For Edmonton it’s simple tonight, they only have two keys to the game. One is to keep emotions in check. Rexall is going to be nuts tonight, and the Oilers have to use that to their advantage. They can’t try and do too much like last season, or else it will result in the other team waiting back and picking them apart.
Second is to stay on the attack. The Oilers have firepower that I’m not sure Winnipeg can match, and they are going against a less than stellar goalie. The Oilers are best suited to use their skill and stick it to other teams. If they can do that tonight to this Winnipeg team, the Oilers will win this game. Can’t take their foot off the pedal at all!
LINEUP:
Ryan Smyth-Taylor Hall-Ales Hemsky
David Perron-Marc Arcobello-Jordan Eberle
Jesse Joensuu-Boyd Gordon-Nail Yakupov
Luke Gazdic-Will Acton-Mike Brown
Ladislav Smid-Jeff Petry
Andrew Ference-Justin Schultz
Nick Schultz-Anton Belov
Devan Dubnyk
WINNIPEG JETS
The Jets pay Rexall Place a regular season visit for the first time since the 90’s, when they were the first edition of the Jets. This is only the second meeting between the teams since the franchise relocated from Atlanta, with the first one being a 5-3 Oilers win back in February of 2012.
The Jets are looking to break a six year playoff drought, but made minimal moves this off-season. They traded for forwards Devin Setoguchi and Michael Frolik, and signed defender Adam Pardy but that was all they ended up doing.
They Jets have some fire power with forwards Evader Kane, Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little, but lack any true depth. Their defense features guys like Dustin Byfuglien, Zach Bogosian and Tobias Enstrom, and is modeled just like Edmonton’s defense unit. No top guys, but decent depth.
KEYS TO THE GAME:
For Winnipeg they need to play a simple and smart game. They have a decent forward group, but don’t have the firepower needed to beat Edmonton in a shoot-out kind of game. They need to control the play with their defense and slow down the pace. Limiting chances on Pavelec will be big too, as he isn’t exactly the best goalie sv% wise.
Smart, slow and steady will get the Jets two points tonight.
LINEUP:
Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little-Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane-Mark Scheifele-Devin Setoguchi
James Wright-Olli Jokinen-Michael Frolik
Eric Tangradi-Jim Slater-Chris Thorburn
Tobias Enstrom-Dustin Byfuglien
Zach Bogosian-Jacob Trouba
Mark Stuart-Paul Postma
Ondrej Pavelec
You can follow me on twitter @Alex_Thomas14 for in game updates throughout the night, enjoy the game everyone !
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