After a two day rest between games, the Oilers return to the ice tonight to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the second of three meetings between the sides, and the last one at Rexall Place. The Oilers enter tonight coming off of a tough luck loss on Tuesday, while Chicago is in on the second half of back-to-back games.
The Oilers enter tonight with a healthy roster, while Chicago is only down D Trevor Van Riemsdyk, who is still out from a long term injury suffered early in the season.
Ben Scrivens will get back into the net tonight, while Antti Raanta takes the reigns for Chicago.
Last Games:
Edmonton: The Oilers hosted Detroit on Tuesday night in a pretty decent hockey game that featured some memorable moments, including a piece of advertisement from the boards getting stuck on the jersey of Henrik Zetterberg.
Detroit out-shot Edmonton by a 12-8 margin in the first, but it mattered not as Jordan Eberle slipped home a shot on the power-play at the 15:29 mark to put the Oil on top. The Wings would turn on the heat in the second, out-shooting Edmonton 14-7 and getting two goals, one from Kyle Quincey at the 10:44 mark, and another off of a Justin Abdelkader tip-in on the power-play at the 18:29 mark.
Edmonton would draw even with just over four minutes left as Eberle blasted home his second of the night, but the momentum would soon be lost due to a terrible four-minute spearing penalty by Benoit Pouliot.
The Red Wings would capitalize, as Pavel Datsyuk would throw a puck off Matt Hendricks and into the net at 19:26. Luke Glendening would add an empty net goal seconds later to give the Wings the 4-2 victory.
Chicago: The Blackhawks were in Minnesota one night ago, battling the Wild. The Hawks got going early, getting a goal from Patrick Sharp just 5:08 in. Pat Kane would add an insurance marker on the power-play at the 16:19 mark that essentially ended the contest.
Minnesota would try battling back, getting a Jason Zucker goal 1:03 into the middle frame, but it just was not enough. Bryan Bickell would add two third period goals to off-set the Zucker goal and a Jason Pominville PPG in the third to give the Hawks a big 4-2 win on the road over a newly named rival.
The Last Meeting:
The Oilers and Hawks last played in November in Edmonton, but that game was more of a brutal beating delivered by the visiting team. Chicago drew first blood at the 3:48 mark, and basically ended the game with that Jonathan Toews goal. Toews would add another goal, while Marcus Kruger would also score to put the Hawks up 3-0.
Kris Versteeg and Marian Hossa both scored power-play goals in the middle frame, while Duncan Keith blasted home a goal to put Chicago up 6-0 within the first five minutes of the second.
The third period was simply a formality, as David Perron and Patrick Kane traded goals to make the score 7-1, which would be the final. No contest.
Keys To The Game:
Edmonton: Compete, yes I said compete. The Oilers are a lower level team than Chicago, and it’s by a wide margin. If Edmonton tries to get into a shoot-out tonight, they’ll get run out of town again by the Hawks. Edmonton needs to roll up their sleeves and get dirty tonight. Play physical and compete hard, let Chicago know this won’t be easy.
Chicago: Shots in close is the key here tonight. Last game, Chicago got multiple chances in close, and converted on most of them to end up with seven goals. If they get chances in close tonight, they’ll light up Ben Scrivens once again and end up with two more easy points.
Players To Watch:
Edmonton: Oiler F Nail Yakupov will get a look on a skilled line tonight that is centered by Derek Roy. Roy is a natural play-maker, which best fits the young sniper’s style of play. Yakupov really hasn’t been playing bad this season, and is due for a good stretch. I say it starts with a goal tonight.
Chicago: Hawks’ F Teuvo Teravainen is the next big young star in Chicago. He might be small, but he’s decent defensively and has a skill level that is through the roof. He’s a newer player to the full time NHL life style and is just adapting. That said, he should not be slept on, and should be watched closely tonight.
Quick Hits:
Edmonton is 2-1-2 since Todd Nelson took over the bench solo at the end of December. Edmonton had a four game point streak, tied for longest on the year, snapped on Tuesday. Forward Jordan Eberle has scored a point in each of the last four Oiler games, his best stretch of the season. The Oilers and Hawks will conclude their season series later this year in Chicago.
The Lines:
Edmonton Oilers Lines:
Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Teddy Purcell – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov
Matt Fraser – Anton Lander – Benoit Pouliot
Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Rob Klinkhammer
Nikita Nikitin – Mark Fayne
Oscar Klefbom – Jeff Petry
Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz
Ben Scrivens
Chicago Blackhawks Lines:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp – Brad Richards – Patrick Kane
Bryan Bickell – Teuvo Teravainen – Andrew Shaw
Joakim Nordstrom – Marcus Kruger – Ben Smith
Duncan Keith – Brent Seabrook
Niklas Hjalmarsson – Johnny Oduya
Michal Rozsival – David Rundblad
Antti Raanta
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