Oilers Gameday @ Toronto: No More Losing…..?

After a 6-2 win in Montreal last night, the Oilers are back in action in Toronto to exact revenge on Nazem Kadri and the Leafs. (If you remember, the Oilers lost the last matchup between the clubs, with Edmonton’s Kris Russell scoring the game winning goal for the Buds.)

While it was good to see the Oilers put up 6 goals last night, it’s important to remember that they were playing the Montreal Canadiens who are about as not-good as the Oilers themselves. Chasing Carey Price after 4 goals was quite the accomplishment, though.

Keys to the Game

Edmonton

• Get lots of shots on the net and force the Leafs to play from behind. The Oilers have had pretty poor first period showing this season, so another strong start would go a long way to fixing some of that problem

Toronto

• Force the Oilers to scramble in their own end. Last night, had it not been for Laurent Brossoit, the Oilers could have lost the game in the 3rd a number of times. As well as they played the first 2 periods, the third was weak and if the Leafs can exploit that, it’ll end in a W for the home side.

Players to Watch

Edmonton

• Jujhar Khaira played what may be his best game as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, with 2 goals in Montreal. He’s fitting quite nicely into the system, and his on-ice presence is definitely noticeable.
• You’ll have to look hard to find him, because he was pretty invisible last game, but Patrick Maroon. Watch for him and see if you can spot him.

Toronto

• Auston Matthews had one of his worst games of the year last night, so if he does draw into the lineup (he’s questionable because of a midgame collision with leafs d-man Morgan Rielly), look for him to have something to prove.

Projected Lineups

Edmonton

Milan Lucic – Connor McDavid – Jesse Puljujarvi

Patrick Maroon – Ryan-Nugent Hopkins – Mike Cammalleri

Nathan Walker – Leon Draisaitl – Ryan Strome

Jujhar Khaira – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian

Darnell Nurse – Kris Russell

Oscar Klefbom – Matt Benning

Yohann Auvitu – Brandon Davidson

Laurent Brossoit

Toronto

Zach Hyman – Auston Matthews – Connor Brown

Patrick Marleau – Nazem Kadri – Leo Komarov

James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Mitch Marner

Matt Martin – Dominic Moore – William Nylander

Morgan Rielly – Ron Hainsey

Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

Andres Borgman – Roman Polak

Fredreik Andersen