Oilers Gameday – Vs. Blackhawks

The Oilers conclude a three game home-stand tonight against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks. It will be the second meeting this season between the teams, who will conclude their series in January in Chicago. The teams met earlier this month at the United Center in what was a closely contested battle.

Oilers defender Philip Larsen is still not skating with the team, and will once again be out tonight, the team will stick with the same line combos that have won them the last three contests, their longest streak of the season. The team had a two game streak earlier in the season, where they knocked off Ottawa and Montreal.

Forward Mark Arcobello will be a healthy scratch yet again tonight, even after being Edmonton’s brightest spot the first month plus of the season. Will Acton stays in the lineup and will center the fourth line.

Former Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin is currently on the IR and will not get the chance to face his former team. Corey Crawford, who got the win last time out against Edmonton, will get the start.

Last Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers won their third straight game, and second in convincing fashion, on Thursday night against the Florida Panthers. Jordan Eberle scored less than a minute in on the PP to give Edmonton a lead they would not let go of. The Oilers fired many other chances at the net, but Tim Thomas was able to keep things at 1-0.

In the second, Edmonton would take a 3-0 lead thanks to Sam Gagner’s first of the season and a goal from David Perron, who is white-hot right now. Scottie Upshall would sneak one by Dubnyk late to make things 3-1, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Edmonton got into some penalty trouble in the third, but Devan Dubnyk stood tall and kept everything out of the net, sealing Edmonton’s third win in a row. Jordan Eberle added an empty net goal for the 4-1 win.

Chicago: The Hawks renewed their rivalry with Vancouver on Saturday night in Vancouver with a closely contested game. Ryan Kesler would open the scoring late in the first on a power-play for the Nucks, but that would be the lone blemish on the night for Corey Crawford, who would stand tall all night long for the Hawks.

The Hawks got a number of chances in the second, but Roberto Luongo would keep them off the board with some big saves. In the final frame, the Hawks finally found the back of the net 4:40 in as Andrew Shaw deposited one behind Luongo to tie things up. Just nine seconds later, Marcus Kruger would score to put the Hawks up 2-1, to give them a lead they hung onto the rest of the way, winning 2-1.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Hawks met earlier this month in Chicago in what was a shoot-out of a game. The Hawks scored late in the first thanks to a Brandon Saad goal to go up 1-0, a lead they would hold going into the second.

In that second, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov would score back to back goals to give the Oil a lead, but the Hawks would tie things up late with an Andrew Shaw goal, sending things to the break at two.

In the third, The Hawks and Oilers traded goals, with Bryan Bickell scoring first. David Perron would even things up before Marcus Kruger and Duncan Keith would put the Hawks up two. Jordan Eberle would tip home a Nick Schultz shot for a SHG late, but it didn’t matter as the Hawks won 5-4.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers center Sam Gagner scored his first goal of the season on Thursday night and has a four-game point streak going right now. The center is finally starting to look like himself and gets a matchup against a team he has feasted on in his career tonight. Gagner is a good hockey player, and I’m expecting his hot streak to continue against a team he has always shown up against.

Chicago: Hawks pest Andrew Shaw was a factor in the last meeting and we can expect him to be a factor again tonight. He’s a mega-pest who plays a solid offensive game, plays physical and gets under the skin of the opponent. He had a great playoff run last year and has been one of the Hawks best players this year. I expect a good game from him tonight.

Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Nail Yakupov – Sam Gagner – Ales Hemsky

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – David Perron

Jesse Joensuu – Will Acton – Luke Gazdic

Anton Belov – Justin Schultz

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Nick Schultz – Corey Potter

Devan Dubnyk

Chicago Blackhawks lines:

Patrick Sharp – Jonathan Toews – Kris Versteeg

Brandon Saad – Brandon Pirri – Patrick Kane

Ben Smith – Andrew Shaw – Jeremy Morin

Brandon Bollig – Marcus Kruger – Sheldon Brookbank

Duncan Keith – Brent Seabrook

Johnny Oduya – Niklas Hjalmarsson

Nick Leddy – Michal Rozsival

Corey Crawford