Oilers Gameday – Vs. Coyotes

The Edmonton Oilers return from a successful three game road trip looking for some home-cooking and looking to keep up their recent momentum. Tonight, the Oil open up a five game homestand with a visit from the Phoenix Coyotes. The two squads met in the desert back in October, and this will be the first of two meetings this month between the sides. They’ll meet in the desert on New Year’s eve.

The Oilers will once again be without center Boyd Gordon, who is battling an undisclosed injury he apparently suffered in Columbus. Will Acton will remain in the lineup, and is expected to center the fourth unit tonight. Defender Philip Larsen practiced yesterday, but is not yet ready to return to the Oilers lineup. Defender Corey Potter was assigned to the AHL yesterday in order to make room for a recall.

Goalie Jason Labarbera is expected to serve as Oilers back up tonight while Ilya Bryzgalov is recovering from the neck injury he suffered in Dallas on Sunday. Bryz has yet to be put on the IR and the team is hoping it isn’t a severe injury.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oil last took to the ice on Sunday for a battle with the Stars in Dallas. The Oilers were outplayed, but thanks to some tremendous goaltending stuck in the game. The sides were even in the first, and as a result the score was even at zero after 20.

In the second, Dallas started taking control and Ilya Bryzgalov had to shut the door. Bryz was sensational nearly stopping everything. Nearly the key word however. Denis Grebeshkov committed a terrible turnover to Ryan Garbutt, who walked in on a breakaway and back handed one past Bryz for a 1-0 Stars lead. Garbutt would later run into Bryzgalov in the period, and knock the Oilers starter out of the game.

Late in the period, Edmonton finally started getting chances. In the final minute, Ryan Jones landed a big hit on the far side that jarred a puck lose, which he tossed towards the net. Ales Hemsky was out front and put the rebound home, tying things up at one.

In the third, Antoine Roussel blew past Andrew Ference and found Garbutt in the slot, who gave the Stars a 2-1 lead. Andrew Ference would respond with a one-timer with a little over five minutes to play to send things to OT tied at two, where nothing would be solved.

In the shoot-out, Jordan Eberle and David Perron would score for Edmonton, while Dubnyk would stop two Stars shooters to give Edmonton the 2-1 shoot-out decision and 3-2 win in the hockey game.

Phoenix: The Yotes last took the ice Saturday night at home against the Chicago Blackhawks in a game which ended up quite one-sided. Chicago struck just over two minutes in as Pat Kane fired a shot home on the PP. About seven minutes later, Andrew Shaw would add a goal, and moments after that Niklas Hjalmarsson would fire home a shot to put the Hawks up 3-0 after one.

The Yotes would cut the gap to one goal in the second as Rob Klinkhammer and Martin Hanzal would each find the back of the net while Mike Smith repelled all of Chicago’s chances. The Hawks would put it away mid-way through the third however as Brandon Bollig would wrist home a shot to make things 4-2. Hossa would add an empty netter and Chicago would hold onto the 5-2 win.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Coyotes got into an old fashion wild-west shootout back on October 26th in the desert. Edmonton opened the scoring 9:59 in as Tyler Pitlick fired home a shot to put Edmonton ahead. Jason Labarbera would hold the fort, and Edmonton would lead 1-0 after one.

In the second, the Yotes took total control as Martin Hanzel would tie things up less than a minute in. At the 5:20 mark, the Yotes would take their first lead as Mike Stone would wrist a shot home, and just twenty seconds later David Schlemko would fire home a shot from the point to make it a 3-1 game.

Edmonton dug in and got a goal from Will Acton nearly three minutes later to make it a 3-2 game, and David Perron would score with less than a minute left on a beautiful tick-tack-toe play to tie things up.

In the third, the Oilers would take a lead as Ryan Jones would score off a feed from RNH. It was short-lived however, as Edmonton got into penalty trouble. Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson would each score PP goals and give the Yotes a 5-4 lead which Mike Smith finished off.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk took over in the second period for the injured Ilya Bryzgalov on Sunday night and was sensational. DD kept the Oilers in the game and was a major part of the win. He’ll get the start tonight, and with Bryz on the mend has a chance to steal back the job. I expect Dubnyk to perform quite strongly in these next few games, he usually does with the pressure on him job wise.

Phoenix: Coyotes defender Connor Murphy is another one of their young players looking to make an impact in the NHL. He’s the next guy in line for the Yotes behind Yandle and OEL in terms of home-grown talented defenders. Murphy has yet to truly make the jump from the AHL, but he has a lot of potential and should be a regular soon. Keep an eye on the next young Yotes defender tonight, he’s got some talent.

Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Nail Yakupov – Mark Arcobello – David Perron

Ryan Jones – Sam Gagner – Ales Hemsky

Ryan Smyth – Will Acton – Jesse Joensuu

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Anton Belov – Justin Schultz

Nick Schultz – Denis Grebeshkov

Devan Dubnyk

Phoenix Coyotes Lines:

Shane Doan – Mike Ribeiro – David Moss

Tim Kennedy – Martin Hanzal – Radim Vrbata

Rob Klinkhammer – Antoine Vermette – Mikkel Boedker

Kyle Chipchura – Jeff Halpern – Jordan Szwarz

Michael Stone – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Keith Yandle – Derek Morris

Connor Murphy – David Schlemko

Mike Smith