Oilers Gameday vs Anaheim

The Oilers are back in action at Rogers Place tonight, this time playing host to Ryan Getzlaf and the Anaheim Ducks. With Darnell Nurse being placed on IR with a suspected broken foot, the Oilers defence is in need of some help. Dillon Simpson has been recalled from Bakersfield, but isn’t expected to be in the lineup.

Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Jets put a stop to the Oilers’ losing streak, so hopefully tonight is a continuation of that, rather than the losing. This is the beginning of a pretty important stretch of games, a stretch that could make or break the season.

If you see a man wearing a homemade BryzDavid jersey, say hi. That’s friend of The Rig (and Oiler fan extraordinaire) TheTowelBoy.

Keys to the Game

Edmonton

With Darnell Nurse now on the IR, the Oilers are going to have to rely on some new defensive pairings to get the job done. Cam Talbot has been solid, though, and should provide some stablility in the defensive zone.

With Connor McDavid coming alive again, it’s time for the rest of the team to step up and contribute offensively.

Anaheim

If the last game against the Oilers was any indication, the Ducks need to score early and pin the Oilers in their own zone. Luckily, it’s been harder to do that this season (though it’s far from impossible).

Players to Watch

Edmonton

How can you watch anyone other than Connor McDavid? The kid is sublime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kboxfk94yd8

Anaheim

My favourite Duck is Andrew Cogliano, because he turned some garbage treatement in Edmonton into a true NHL Ironman streak, and is a threat every time he’s on the ice.
Don’t watch Corey Perry, because he’s garbage.

Lineups

Edmonton (projected)

Milan Lucic – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Tyler Pitlick – Drake Caggiula – Anton Slepyshev

Patrick Maroon – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian

Kris Russell – Adam Larsson

Oscar Klefbom – Mark Fayne

Andrej Sekera – Matt Benning

Cam Talbot

Anaheim

Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Nick Ritchie – Antoine Vermette – Ondrej Kase

Logan Shaw – Chris Wagner – Ryan Garbutt

Cam Fowler – Sami Vatanen

Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson

Shea Theodore – Kevin Bieksa

John Gibson

Notes

Tonight marks the beginning of a crucial stretch of games. With 7 in the next 11 days, including two sets of back-to-backs, the Oilers need to win at least 4 of these next 7 games. Any less, especially against any of the Western Conference opponents, and they may not be able to get themselves out of that hole.

OILERS RIG LIVE4MS

Our 4th annual fundraiser for the MS Society of Alberta is set for January 21, 2017 at  The Pint Downtown, at 6:30pm

It’s a Battle of Alberta on HNIC, with the Oilers in Calgary. Puck drop is 8:00pm.

We’ll have a great lineup of silent auction items, as well as raffles throughout the night. We might even have tshirts for sale (but we’ll let you know as we get closer to the date).

All proceeds from the fundraiser go to the MS Society of Alberta.

See you there!