Oilers Gameday – vs. Canucks

Tonight’s game is the second of a back-to-back road trip that saw the Oilers win 5-2 over Calgary last night at the Saddledome. Vancouver is at home for three games after this one, having lost 4-3 to the Blues on October 16.

The Oilers are without Jordan Eberle (shoulder), and Matt Hendricks (undisclosed). Vancouver’s Jared McCann will sit.

Anders Nilsson gets the start for Edmonton, while perennial Oiler-killer Ryan Miller starts for Vancouver.

Last Games

Oilers: WE WON WE WON WE WON! (Seriously, that’s a thing that happened!)

Last night in Calgary could be considered the breakout game for a bunch of players, most specifically the 4(!) first overall picks the Oilers dressed. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1G), Nail Yakupov (1G, 1A), Taylor Hall (1G, 2A) and Connor McDavid (2G, 1A) went after the Flames like gangbusters. After the first 4 games, where they couldn’t buy a goal if they tried, it was nice to see the puck in the back of the Flames net more than just once or twice.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins opened scoring at 12:59 of the first, with assists to Gryba and Hall. David Jones tied it up for Calgary at 5:07 of the second, and Connor McDavid put the Oilers ahead for good at 16:31 of the second period.

The third period saw one Flames goal (Jones again, at 10:14), three Oilers goals -Hall (0:25), Yak (2:59), and McDavid (PP at 16:20) and what is probably the save of the season. I could describe it to you, but you should just watch instead:

What a move. What a save. ? #EDMvsCGY pic.twitter.com/NuHHLO3tgQ

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 18, 2015

I think its safe to say that the offensive explosion we’ve been waiting for happened last night. Were the Oilers perfect? Absolutely not, but seeing the offence come together and 9 different guys record points last night is going to go a long way toward building confidence in the room and on the ice.

Canucks: Vancouver comes in off a 4-3 loss at home to St Louis. Jori Lehetera opened the scoring, and Alex Steen put the Blues up by two early in the second. Rob Bortuzzo made it 3-0, after which Brandon Sutter cut St. Louis’ lead to two with his 100th career goal in his 500th career game.

Former Oiler Kyle Brodziak made it 4-1 for St Louis at 16:14 of the third, but the Canucks weren’t done yet. Jared McCann (16:44) and Daniel Sedin (19:31) scored for Vancouver, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat the juggernaut Blues.

Vancouver enters this matchup 3-1-1 on the season, while the Oilers are 1-4.

Last Meeting

Last game of the 2014-15 regular season was a meeting between these teams. Vancouver won by a margin of approximately a million goals (though it was actually a 6-5 Canucks OT victory). Here’s hoping this season will have better results for the Oilers.

Keys to the Game

Edmonton: Take the momentum from last night in Calgary and run with it. I’m aware that Calgary isn’t as good as the Canucks, but the Oilers need to play their game and not get distracted by the antics of the other team. Last night was the first time we’ve really seen a bunch of good things go right for the Oilers, and I can only hope that it continues with another victory tonight.

Vancouver: Keep it simple, don’t get distracted by Connor McDavid, don’t let McDavid split the D…. basically, contain McDavid. The Canucks are coming in off a couple days’ rest, with an optional morning skate today. All things being equal, Vancouver shouldn’t lose tonight (but stranger things have happened).

Players to Watch

Edmonton: McDavid, for obvious reasons. Also, Matt Hendricks is out tonight, so look for Slepyshev to draw in on the top line alongside Hall and Nugent-Hopkins. This should be THE test of his staying power in NHL. If he’s unable to keep up, or convert on the chances he’s probably going to get, I think we can reasonably expect him to be sent down once Ebs is back in.

Vancouver: The Sedins, as always. The Canucks line of Baertschi-Horvat-Virtanen should be fun to watch, too.

The Lineups

Edmonton

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Anton Slepyshev

Benoit Pouliot- Connor McDavid – Nail Yakupov

Lauri Korpikoski – Anton Lander – Teddy Purcell

Luke Gazdic – Mark Letestu – Rob Klinkhammer

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne

Griffin Reinhart – Eric Gryba

Anders Nilsson

Vancouver

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Jannik Hansen

Alex Burrows – Brandon Sutter – Radim Vrbata

Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Jake Virtanen

Brandon Prust – Adam Cracknell – Derek Dorsett

Alex Edler – Chris Tanev

Dan Hamhuis – Matt Bartkowski

Ben Hutton – Luca Sbisa

Ryan Miller