Oilers Gameday – @ Stars

The Oilers conclude a three game road trip this evening in the lone star state against the Dallas Stars. It’ll be the second of three meetings between the teams this season. The sides met in November at Rexall, and will conclude the battle in January in Dallas.

The Oilers are looking for a successful end to the short road trip. They opened with a win on Thursday, but dropped Friday night’s contest in Columbus. A win here and a 2-1 record would constitute a successful trip away from home.

The Oilers will open a five-game homestand on Tuesday night, one of their longest on the season. The team won’t be on the road again until December 13th when they battle Vancouver following today’s game.

This will be the second time former Oiler captain Shawn Horcoff faces his old team. He had no points in the first meeting last month. It’ll also be the fourth time Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin do battle. Seguin is 3-0 in the series, winning two meetings with Boston and the meeting with Dallas last month.

After coming on in relief on Friday night, Devan Dubnyk was expected to start for the Oilers tonight, who look to avoid back-to-back losses. That however, will not be the case. Meanwhile, Stars starter Kari Lehtonen, who has owned the Oilers recently, is expected to get the start for Dallas tonight.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers came out flat and unprepared on Friday night in Columbus when they concluded a set of back-to-back games. The teams were mostly even in the first period, but Columbus converted a Ryan Johansen chance in front to go up 1-0 into the break.

In the second, the Oilers got into penalty trouble and Columbus took advantage of it. Artem Anisimov scored about three and a half minutes in on a power-play with Jeff Petry in the box, while Nick Foligno would make it 3-0, also on the PP, about seven minutes later.

Jack Skille added a goal with less than three minutes left to make it 4-0, a goal which would end the night for Oilers starter Ilya Bryzgalov.

In the third, Edmonton would finally start to show some urgency and push back on Columbus. They out played the Jackets in the final 20, but it was too little too late. Sam Gagner and David Perron (Eberle goal changed to DP…) would score to bring Edmonton within two, but time ran out. Sergei Bobrovsky would record the win, and the Jackets would hang on 4-2.

Dallas: The Stars last took the ice on Friday when the hosted the defending champs, the Chicago Blackhawks. The Stars came out swinging early and controlled the pace. They were rewarded at the 16:40 mark when Rich Peverley fired home a shot past Corey Crawford.

The Hawks settled in during the second, and both goalies would stop everything directed at them to keep things at 1-0 heading into the third. The Hawks took over in the third, pushing for the tying goal. They would get it at the 7:21 mark as Patrick Sharp would deflect a Duncan Keith shot into the net.

Overtime would solve nothing, and the sides would head to a shoot-out, where Ben Smith would score the game winner in the 11th round to give the Hawks a close 2-1 victory over Dallas.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Stars met back in November at Rexall Place in a game where Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk kept things close. Dubnyk stopped all 11 shots against him in the period, while Edmonton had all nine of their shots stopped.

In the second, Dubnyk kept things close up until the mid-way mark when Rich Peverley would score the game’s first goal. Peverley fired a shot on net and went to get his own rebound. DD would keep things close until late in the third, when Tyler Seguin and Antoine Roussel would score empty netters to complete the 3-0 win.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers center Will Acton will return to the lineup tonight, taking the place of injured forward Boyd Gordon. Acton will most likely center Jesse Joensuu and Ryan Jones. Acton is a physical player who is strong in the dot and serves as a fourth-line specialist. With Edmonton’s sudden depth at the position, Acton could be playing for a roster spot tonight, and I expect him to try and prove people like myself wrong.

Dallas: Stars forward Tyler Seguin has been reborn. After a rocky three seasons in Boston, the young superstar has woken up and preformed as many expected he would. Seguin has been lighting it up this season and is starting to turn into one of the game’s brightest young star players. Keep an eye on Seguin tonight, as it’s almost a certainty he is involved in some sort of important play. He’s that kind of player.

Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers Lineup:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Nail Yakupov – Sam Gagner – Ales Hemsky

Ryan Smyth – Mark Arcobello – David Perron

Jesse Joensuu – Will Acton – Ryan Jones

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Anton Belov – Justin Schultz

Nick Schultz – Denis Grebeshkov

Ilya Bryzgalov

Dallas Stars Lineup:

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Valeri Nichushkin

Ray Whitney – Cody Eakin – Alex Chiasson

Erik Cole – Shawn Horcoff – Rich Peverley

Antoine Roussel – Vernon Fiddler – Ryan Garbutt

Brendan Dillon – Jamie Oleksiak

Jordie Benn – Trevor Daley

Alex Goligoski – Sergei Gonchar

Kari Lehtonen