Oilers Gameday – Vs. Carolina

Sunday night, to put it politely, was an absolute debacle for the Edmonton Oilers. The team was outplayed by the Buffalo Sabres and every mistake ended up in the back of their net, it was a bad first loss for this hockey club. I wrote about it yesterday here, but tonight is a huge test for the Oilers. Can this team bounce back from a tough loss and stop the bleeding right away?

Todd McLellan, after a ‘teaching practice’ on Monday, has changed the lineup a little bit. After two games, Eric Gryba will head back to the pressbox and be joined by rookie Jesse Puljujarvi. Anton Slepyshev, who last skated on opening night, will return to the lineup while Mark Fayne makes his season debut for the Oilers.

Carolina, meanwhile, comes to town tonight looking for a fresh start. The Canes are 0-0-2 on the season and have blown a pair of three goals leads to the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks. Like the Oilers, Carolina will be motivated to have a bounce back performance tonight.

Cam Talbot, who struggled mightily on Sunday night, is back in for the Oilers while Cam Ward will start for the Hurricanes.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Keep the game in front of you tonight. The Oilers have surrendered early goals in each of their three games this season, and it’s forced them to play catch up twice. If Edmonton wants to win this hockey game, they’ll need to keep things in front of them and not be chasing the opponent in the opening five minutes. A solid start would go a long way.

Carolina: It’s so cliche and I HATE using it as a key, but Carolina has to play a full sixty minutes tonight. This is a team with some serious talent, good system play and solid stats. The issue is, Carolina routinely allows the lead to slip away with periods of inconsistent play. If they play to their ability for 60 minutes, they’ll claim their first win tonight.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Connor McDavid was held pointless against the Sabres on Sunday night, but tonight he’ll get to go up against a very young and inexperienced Carolina defense. With the captain leading the way in terms of accountability following the loss, I’m intrigued to see how he bounces back tonight. I’m expecting a big night and I’ll be watching him very closely.

Carolina: Martin Frk was a prospect of interest in the Detroit system for a few years, but he failed to make the mark and was claimed by the Canes off waivers just last week. Tonight, Frk will draw into the Carolina lineup as the Hurricanes make changes. I’ll be interested to see if the talented youngster can make a mark against an Oiler team that is bleeding goals against.

The Lines:

As mentioned above, both Fayne and Slepyshev will draw in for the Oilers tonight. It’s also worth mentioning that Laurent Brossoit will backup in this game while Jonas Gustavsson recovers from injury. Matthew Benning, who had been the eighth defender, was assigned to Bakersfield yesterday.

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Milan Lucic – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Zack Kassian

Patrick Maroon – Leon Draisaitl – Anton Slepyshev

Tyler Pitlick – Mark Letestu – Anton Lander

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell

Darnell Nurse – Mark Fayne

Cam Talbot

Carolina Hurricanes Lines:

Jeff Skinner – Victor Rask – Lee Stempniak

Joakim Nordstrom – Jordan Staal – Phil Di Giuseppe

Sebastian Aho – Elias Lindholm – Teuvo Teravainen

Bryan Bickell – Jay McClement – Martin Frk

Ron Hainsey – Justin Faulk

Jaccob Slavin – Brett Pesce

Noah Hanifin – Jakub Nakladal

Cam Ward

Game Notes:

This will be an interesting three days for Cam Talbot. Tonight, he starts against Carolina, while tomorrow his wife will give birth to twins. Oh, and on Thursday he’s expected to start against the St. Louis Blues. I’m sure Cam will enjoy not having a game on Friday or Saturday of this week!

Anton Lander, who took an awful penalty during what was a bad game for him personally on Sunday night, will get another look on the team’s fourth line tonight. Lander does some things really well, but he needs to be better if he’s going to stick around in Edmonton or the NHL for that matter. A strong showing tonight would really help his cause.

With Brossoit now in Edmonton, Nick Ellis and Eetu Laurikainen take the reigns in Bakersfield. I’ll be interested to see who gets the start in their season opener tonight in Winnipeg against the Moose.

Prediction:

The response to Sunday’s loss was something I’m not used to seeing from the Oilers. The players owned their terrible performance and were quick to get back to work on Monday morning. Will that translate into a win tonight? I’m not sure, but one would think it will lead to a better effort and crisper performance.

I’m going to pick the Oilers to get that bounce back victory tonight, knocking off Carolina by a 4-2 final. Anton Lander will get his first goal tonight, while McDavid, Sekera and Nugent-Hopkins chip in with goals as well. For Carolina, give me Lindholm and Skinner as your goal scorers.