Oilers Gameday – vs Anaheim: T Minus 4

The Oilers are back in action tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. This is the Ducks’ last visit to Rexall, and hopefully this will also be the end of Anaheim’s domination of the Oilers in Edmonton. Hopefully.

Last Game

The Oilers played in Los Angeles on Saturday night. They lost.

Final score was 6-4, although it shouldn’t have gone that way. Jeff Carter’s 2-2 goal in the first period shouldn’t have counted, but because the call would have gone in favour of the Oilers, it did. so instead of being up 2-1, the Oilers were tied, and lost a little momentum, ultimately getting down 5-2. But had Carter’s goal not counted, then maybe things would have gone differently.

I don’t want to be that fan who complains about officiating, but there does seem to be an imbalance of calls against the Oilers. My dad, who is wiser about hockey than I’ll probably ever be, is pretty sure that the ice tilts for the good teams so they’re rewarded whereas the weaker teams are not.

In any case, if this wasn’t goalie interference, they’re going to have a heck of a time “getting things right” during the playoffs.

Keys to the Game

I really liked the effort the Oilers put forth on Saturday in the first period. For the most part, they were running the Kings’ show and they looked like a spirited team. Obviously, there was a little lapse in the 2nd (when isn’t there?), but the first and third periods were pretty decent.

So if they can replicate that effort for all three periods tonight, I foresee a better result.

Players to Watch

Patrick Maroon. Dude’s been unreal the last few games. He scored twice against the Kings, and he’s since commented on how he’s been making the most of his opportunity here.

Connor McDavid is sublime. He’s a joy to watch. And he’s ours until at least 2022. So enjoy it.

Projected Lineups

Edmonton

Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Nail Yakupov

Lauri Korpokoski – Mark Letestu – Iiro Pakarinen

Matt Hendricks – Anton Lander – Zack Kassian

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne

Jordan Oesterle – Griffin Reinhart

Darnell Nurse – Adam Clendening

Cam Tal-Bot

Anaheim

Jamie McGinn – Ryan Getzlaf – Brandon Pirri

Nick Ritchie – Rickard Rakell – Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano – Shawn Horcoff – Jakob Silfverberg

Ryan Garbutt – Nate Thompson – Chris Stewart

Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson

Cam Fowler – Korbinian Holzer

Clayton Stoner – Shea Theodore

John Gibson

Final Thoughts

It’s been made public that Nail Yakupov’s agent (Igor Larionov) asked for a trade, and it’s bee reported that before the deadline the Oilers were close to making a deal with the Anaheim Ducks. Yakupov and Benoit Pouliot would have gone to California, with unknown players returning. Ultimately, it’s a moot point, but the interview that Yakupov did with a Russian media outlet is pretty telling in a lot of ways.

Did you count on a different consideration as a past first overall pick?

I don’t have anything to moan about regarding the first part of my NHL career. I was well accepted, by the team, by the club, by the city. The guys helped me a lot with English, for this I also have to thank a lot Nikolai Khabibulin, who was in the team at those times. And I had the trust of the coaches. I was simply enjoying the game a lot. We almost reached the playoffs during my first year. I wasn’t thinking that I was very important just because I was drafted first overall. Playing in the NHL, being in the same locker room with players who played in many playoffs and won the Stanley Cup was an honor for me. Everything was truly interesting to me. I tried to be a good kid, the way I was raised by my parents. And then everything changed.

When?

At the second season’s start. I wasn’t iced for the third game. Time started flying. Of course there were many good moments, but everything could have been better, much better. I am not angry, I don’t regret anything, I understand that millions of people live worse than me. I try to do what I can do, I work and hope for the best.

Is it correct to say that with your first coach in the NHL, Ralph Krueger, all was good, but then you couldn’t find a common language with Dallas Eakins?

I am not going into details, but I think that everything was clear even from outside. The way it was before and after.

Can you think, at least for a minute, that [success] will happen in Edmonton?

No, I think it is to be excluded.

It’s obvious that Yakupov isn’t finding the kind of success here that he hoped for, but I’m not sure that it’s a case of him not being happy. I think he was forced into too much too fast (much like most other recent Oilers prospects), and I think that the lack of support for him (esppecially language support) was a huge problem. Dallas Eakins was not good for Yakupov’s development (not that Eakins was good for anyone’s development), and I think his confidence has taken a number of hits since then. He’s not quite good enough to consistently be in the top 6, but he’s a trainwreck when he’s on one of the bottom two lines.

Asked this morning about Yakupov, Taylor Hall (ever the diplomat) had this to say:

He didn’t take Principe’s bait, and he talked his struggling teammate up. But he’s probably a cancer in the room, right?