Oilers Gameday – Vs. Canucks

The Oilers come off an utter failure of a four game road trip to open a three-game homestand tonight at Rexall Place. Their first opponent? A team that has flat our dominated them this season, the Vancouver Canucks. This will be the third meeting between the rivals, and first meeting at Rexall Place between them.

The Canucks will be without head coach John Tortorella, who was suspended 15 days for his actions on Saturday night against Calgary. The Canucks will also be without center Henrik Sedin, who will see his iron-man streak end tonight with an upper body injury. It will be Zack Kassian’s first game back in Edmonton since his cheap shot on Sam Gagner back in the pre-season.

The Oilers will be without forward Ales Hemsky, who is battling an ankle injury, and forward Nail Yakupov, who is battling concussion-like symptoms. Both skated on Monday. Forward Matt Hendricks, who was banged up Saturday, is expected to play tonight.

Ben Scrivens, who gave up four goals in his first start on Thursday night, will make his home debut tonight for the Oilers, while veteran Roberto Luongo will make the start for the Canucks. It’ll be the first of two meetings in a six day stretch for these teams, who will hook-up in Vancouver next Monday night.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers were last on the ice in Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon for a Hockey Day In Canada tilt against the Jets. The first period would see the Jets out-shoot Edmonton 11-8, but would see each goalie put forth a perfect frame.

In the second, Edmonton would again get out-shot by the Jets, this time 13-8, but would get some quality chances and break the ice with a Jordan Eberle PP goal. The Jets, thanks to Dustin Byfuglien, would nearly tie things, but some interesting stops by Bryzgalov would keep the Oilers in the lead after 40.

In the third, an Oilers power-play would go very south, and end up in their own net. Jacob Trouba would score 5:48 into the frame short-handed to tie things up, while Mark Scheifele would give the Jets a lead about ten minutes in. David Perron would tip home a Jeff Petry shot with two minutes to play to force OT.

In OT, Jeff Petry was soundly beat by Blake Wheeler, who missed his first chance, but fed Jacob Trouba, who beat Anton Belov, in front at the 1:10 mark to give the Jets the 3-2 OT victory.

Vancouver: The Canucks last played on Saturday night at home against the Flames in a game which saw a lot of fireworks. Just two seconds into the match-up, a line brawl took place that saw all five players on the ice receive fighting majors. The game would remain chippy throughout the contest too, providing an old time feel to the game.

The Flames actually out-played the Canucks, out-shooting them 11-9, in the first period, but solid goaltending saw the sides play to a scoreless draw after twenty.

1:37 into the second period, Flames captain Mark Giordano would blast home a shot on the PP to open the scoring, but the Canucks would apply pressure and eventually tie the game thanks to a Ryan Kesler tip-in just over two minutes later. Both goalies would stand tall from that point on, keeping things tied until the third.

The Flames would again get the lead just over four minutes into the third as Matt Stajan would score on a backhanded shot, but the Nucks would again answer thanks to a Yannick Weber blast on the PP at the 11:48 mark.

The sides would go to OT, but the extra five would solve nothing and the teams would head to the shootout. Joe Colborne and Yannick Weber would score in the first three rounds, resulting in a tie. After a scoreless fourth round, Chris Higgins would deposit the winner in round five, giving the Nucks the 3-2 shootout win.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Canucks last met back on December 13th in Vancouver. The Canucks dominated this game from the start, applying tons of pressure and getting a good chunk of the shots and scoring chances.

The Nucks out-shot Edmonton 14-4 in the first, but a stellar period by Devan Dubnyk would keep things at a scoreless tie after one. In the second however, things turned on the scoreboard. Daniel Sedin scored on the PP 8:41 in to give the Nucks the 1-0, as they out-shot Edmonton 12-6.

In the third, Zack Kassian, Chris Higgins and Dale Weise would all score to put Vancouver up 4-0. Roberto Luongo would stop all 19 Oilers shots against, sealing the 4-0 shut-out victory for the Canucks, who have dominated the first two meetings.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers forward Matt Hendricks has brought a physical style to the lineup in his first two games with the team. Tonight, I’m keeping an eye on him. Why you might ask? Well, Canucks goon Zack Kassian has totally embarrassed this team with his cheap hits and taunting this year. No one has put him in his place yet, but I suspect Hendricks might give it a try tonight.

Vancouver: It’s easy, it’s Zack Kassian. Kassian’s cheap high-stick on Sam Gagner in the pre-season, and disgusting antics in the last meeting have made him a prime target for the Oilers. I’ll be looking forward to watching him tonight. Will he turtle and coward like a typical Canuck, or will he finally answer the bell for his actions? We wait.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

David Perron – Sam Gagner – Ryan Jones

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Matt Hendricks

Jesse Joensuu – Mark Arcobello – Luke Gazdic

Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz

Anton Belov – Jeff Petry

Nick Schultz – Martin Marincin

Ben Scrivens

Vancouver Canucks Lines:

Daniel Sedin – Ryan Kesler – Alex Burrows

David Booth – Chris Higgins – Jannik Hansen

Tom Sestito – Zac Dalpe – Zack Kassian

Kellan Lain – Brad Richardson – Dale Weise

Chris Tanev – Dan Hamhuis

Alex Edler – Kevin Bieksa

Jason Garrison – Yannick Weber

Roberto Luongo