Oilers Gameday – @ Sharks

The Edmonton Oilers open their final road trip of the season tonight in California, as they will meet the Sharks for the fifth and final time this season. San Jose has won three of the four previous meetings, including a 5-2 decision last Tuesday night. Edmonton’s lone win was Ben Scrivens’ 59 save shut-out performance.

The Oilers are coming off of a tough 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday night, where they were dominated from the opening puck drop. The team lost forward Luke Gazdic and defender Andrew Ference for the season yesterday, and recalled forward Will Acton from OKC. Forward Nail Yakupov is not expected to play tonight, while injured goalie Viktor Fasth will back up tonight.

The Sharks have struggled since beating the Oilers last Tuesday night, falling into a bit of a slump and falling into second place in the Pacific division, right behind the Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks bring forth a healthy lineup tonight against the Oilers, and look to finish off what has been a dominating performance against their new divisional rivals.

Ben Scrivens gets the go for Edmonton, while Antti Niemi is expected to start for the Sharks.

Key To The Game:

Edmonton: For the Oilers, tonight they just have to compete. Let’s be honest here, the only way Edmonton has a fighting chance to win this game is another tremendous outing by Ben Scrivens, and you just can’t count on that from any goalie. As long as the Oilers compete and fight hard tonight, that’s all we can ask from a banged up, and quite frankly bad, roster.

San Jose: For the Sharks, they are one of the dominate teams in the NHL, and tonight need two points badly. In order to secure those two points, they’ll want to simply put pucks on net. The Sharks are averaging over 40 shots against Edmonton this year, and as a result have won three out of four meetings. If they pepper Scrivens tonight, they’ll likely add two more points to their total.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers defender Oscar Klefbom did well by eye against Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf on Friday night, and I’ll be interested to see how he handles the Sharks many big guns tonight. Klefbom is fighting to be on the team’s opening night roster in October, and a solid outing against the Sharks will go a long way. Keep an eye on the young blue-liner tonight.

San Jose: When the Sharks play the Oilers, Joe Thornton puts up points. It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. Joe Thornton is Edmonton’s daddy and will prove why again tonight. The big, talented center always is a factor when these two teams link up, and I suspect he finds the back of the net tonight.

Gameday Prediction:

The Oilers lost one of their best defenders in Andrew Ference for the year, further weakening what was already an awful group. The Sharks badly want to avoid a date with LA in round one, and will be looking for these two points. It’s going to get ugly, so make sure you have something on the DVR. You won’t want to stick around for the full 6-1 drubbing San Jose puts down tonight.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Anton Lander – Sam Gagner – David Perron

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Matt Hendricks

Tyler Pitlick – Will Acton – Philip Larsen

Martin Marincin – Jeff Petry

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Mark Fraser – Anton Belov

Ben Scrivens

San Jose Sharks Lines:

Joe Pavelski – Joe Thornton – Brent Burns

Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Matt Nieto

James Sheppard – Tommy Wingles – Marty Havlat

Mike Brown – Andrew Desjardins – Tyler Kennedy

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun

Matt Irwin – Dan Boyle

Brad Stuart – Scott Hannan

Antti Niemi