Oilers Gameday – @ Vancouver

For years, the Vancouver Canucks kicked the absolute snot out of the Edmonton Oilers. Vancouver was an extremely talented team competing for the Stanley Cup, while Edmonton was toiling at the bottom of the NHL standings on a regular basis. Tonight, the Oilers have a chance to finally flip the script.

Vancouver started the season 4-0-0, but the club has lost three straight, including a shutout loss to Ottawa on Tuesday, and is struggling to score goals at even strength. They are also without Chris Tanev, their top defender. Edmonton, meanwhile, has been firing on all cylinders and just stunned the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Wednesday night.

Cam Talbot, who has started every game thus far, will go for Edmonton tonight. He will be opposed by Ryan Miller, who starts for the Canucks.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers have to use their speed tonight against Vancouver. The Canucks simply can’t match Edmonton in that department as their defensive group is a slower one and likely will struggle to keep up with the likes of Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and company. If Edmonton can get moving around, it’ll create chances in the offensive zone, which the Oilers have been finishing so far.

Vancouver: The Canucks have to play a structured, defensively sound game tonight. Outside of the Sedin line with Loui Eriksson, this team is lacking any kind of offensive firepower. If they want to beat an Oiler team that is scoring at will, they’ll need to lock it down and win this thing 2-1.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins awoke for two assists on Wednesday night, and I think he’s just getting started. The Nuge has been playing a solid defensive game all year, but really hadn’t done much offensively. With the first multi-point game behind him, I’m expecting him to be a little more loose and produce more.

Vancouver: Troy Stecher was recalled from Utica this past week and will play his second NHL game tonight. The defender from the University of North Dakota is a very strong puck mover and a good offensive defender, although he lacks size and is still learning. That said, he’s got an NHL future and I’m looking forward to seeing him live tonight.

The Lines:

Edmonton will be sticking with what works, keeping Matt Benning and Anton Slepyshev in the pressbox as healthy scratches. As of now, there is still no update regarding the injured group, which includes Matt Hendricks, Iiro Pakarinen, Mark Fayne, Brandon Davidson and Drake Caggiula.

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Milan Lucic – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Zack Kassian

Patrick Maroon – Leon Draisaitl – Jesse Puljujarvi

Tyler Pitlick – Mark Letestu – Anton Lander

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell

Darnell Nurse – Eric Gryba

Cam Talbot

Vancouver Canucks Lines:

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Loui Eriksson

Markus Granlund – Brandon Sutter – Jannik Hansen

Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Jack Skille

Jayson Megna – Brendan Gaunce – Jake Virtanen

Alexander Edler – Troy Stecher

Ben Hutton – Erik Gudbranson

Luca Sbisa – Philip Larsen

Ryan Miller

Game Notes:

The last regular season meeting between these two teams was the final game of the 2015-16 campaign. The Canucks, who hosted the game, would prevail in the shootout as Edmonton and Vancouver split that home-and-home set. This will be Edmonton’s final road game of October, they’ll finish the slate on Sunday night at home against the Ottawa Senators.

Edmonton is currently 2-0-0 on the road this season, defeating Calgary 5-3 back on October 14th and Winnipeg 3-0 last Sunday in the Heritage Classic. The club is riding a four game winning streak while Vancouver has lost three in a row, going 0-2-1 in that stretch.

Prediction:

The Canucks have a dominant top line, but after that this is a pretty weak hockey club. With all of their confidence right now and with the entire lineup really clicking, this is a game that the Oilers should win on the road. On paper they are the better team and they are playing like it right now.

I’ll say the Oilers win this game 5-2 tonight. McDavid, Puljujarvi, Nugent-Hopkins, Lander and Sekera find the back of the net for Edmonton, while Daniel Sedin and Horvat score for Vancouver.