Oilers Gameday - vs. Columbus

It’s game day! It feels like it’s been a month since the Oilers were on the ice, and they get to shake the rust off against Columbus (which is probably better than, say, Chicago).

I’m really looking forward to seeing the boys back on the ice, too. I mean, I saw Taylor Hall in the All-Star Game on the weekend (more on him later), but it’ll be really great to see the whole team back in action.

Last Games

Edmonton

Ummmm…… *checks* Oh yeah! The Oilers played Nashville way back on January 23rd, and got rolled 4-1. It was a particularly Oilery loss, too; it’s probably a good thing they had 9 days off afterward to recuperate. I don’t really remember what made it so Oilery, but it was ugly and I do remember being glad it was over so I could go watch Saturday Night Live.

Columbus

They lost, probably. I don’t even know. (They’re at the bottom of the league, just like the Oilers, so I’m making a reasonably well-educated guess here.)

*checks* NOPE. they’re on a 2-game win streak thanks to Montreal being AWFUL.

It’s ok, it’ll end tonight.

Keys to the Game

Edmonton

Capitalize on Columbus’ tendency to spend a lot of time in the penalty box, and actually score a power play goal or seven.

Pass the puck to (NHL All-Star) Taylor Hall. He’s very Good at Hockey.

Columbus

Take penalties. The Oilers PP is pretty brutal, so I expect the Blue Jackets to score at least 2 short-handed goals. Because Oilers.

Players to Watch

Edmonton

Taylor Hall. He’s leading the team in points, points per game (I think), goals and assists. He’s also an All-Star, and (as you all well know by now) the king of my heart.

Oh yeah. Connor’s back, too.

Columbus

I don’t even know who plays there anymore. Brandon Dubinsky? Is Bobrovsky still in net? Is Columbus a real team, or did we invent them?

Lineups

Edmonton

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell

Benoit Pouliot – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle

Zack Kassian – Mark letestu – Nail Yakupov

Lauri Korpikoski – Matt Hendricks – Iiro pakarinen

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne

Griffin Reinhart – Eric Gryba

Darnell Nurse – Adam Clendening

Cam Tal-Bot

Columbus

Scott Hartnell – Alexander Wennberg – Brandon Saad

Boone Jenner – Brandon Dubinsky – Cam Atkinson

Kerby Rychel – William Karlsson – Nick Foligno

Matt Calvert – Gregory Campbell – Rene Bourque

Ryan Murray – Seth Jones

Jack Johnson – Cody Goloubef

Justin Falk – Dalton Prout

Joonas Korpisalo

Final Thoughts

The All-Star weekend was an absolute delight for the first time in a really long time. The NHL tried its best to choke the fun out of everything, but fun prevailed and everyone won.

John Scott was a pretty big story, obviously, and I’m really glad he won the ASG MVP award.

I would like to send a shout out to my favourite player, Taylor Hall. I was fortunate enough to see a bunch of interviews with him, and see his contribution to the Players Tribune, and watch him having a blast out on the bench and on the ice. But what caught me a little by surprise were the following things: During the game, when John Scott was being interviewed on the bench, Hall leaned over and said “Give this man a contract extension.” Obviously, Hall’s opinion has no bearing on Scott’s contract status, but he didn’t need to say anything. The other thing was this story, relayed by John Scott yesterday on Tim and Sid: