Oilers Gameday – Vs. Coyotes

The Oilers have one more formality before the Christmas break, which is a battle with the Arizona Coyotes tonight at Rexall. The Oilers are in the midst of another brutal losing streak, while the Coyotes are coming off of their most embarrassing loss in years on Monday night.

Edmonton will be without defender Nikita Nikitin, who is on the IR, and forward Matt Hendricks, who missed morning skate earlier today. The Coyotes are relatively healthy at this time.

Edmonton will turn back to Ben Scrivens, who struggled on Sunday, while the Coyotes are expected to start Devan Dubnyk.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers hosted Dallas on Sunday afternoon in an entertaining and rather wild hockey game. The Oilers struck first, just 2:58 in, as Taylor Hall scored a power-play goal for the home side. Shawn Horcoff would tie things up at the 6:36 mark with his first against his old team, while Erik Cole would give the Stars a lead late.

Edmonton opened up the second by scoring just eleven seconds in thanks to a Teddy Purcell shot, while Mark Arcobello would give Edmonton a lead off of a rebound in front just over two minutes later. Arcobello and Taylor Hall would each score their second goals of the night to put the Oil up 5-2 late, but a Jamie Benn marker in the final minute closed the gap to two.

Tyler Seguin scored two third period goals to force overtime, where both sides would get a few chances, but not nearly enough to settle the score. In the shootout, Shawn Horcoff would score the winning goal in the eighth round, giving Dallas a huge 6-5 comeback win.

Arizona: The Yotes would like to forget their last game please and thank you. Arizona was absolutely smacked on Monday night in Vancouver, surrendering seven goals on 40 shots to the Canucks. Alex Burrows scored twice, while Brad Richardson, Chris Higgins, Daniel Sedin, Kevin Bieksa and Shawn Matthias all chipped in with a goal.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the lone Arizona goal, while both Devan Dubnyk and Mike Smith saw action between the pipes. Smith received the start, and was pulled early in the second period.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Coyotes met a week ago tonight in the desert in Todd Nelson and Craig MacTavish’s first game together behind the bench. Things started off well, as Edmonton controlled the first period and got a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins goal to take a lead into the intermission.

Arizona would dominate the second period however, registering over 25 shots on net and tying the game with a Brandon McMillan goal just past the half way mark of the frame.

Edmonton would regain momentum in the third and play a solid final twenty minutes, but Dubnyk would stand tall, sending the game to overtime. In OT, Edmonton would get some chances, but would make a key mistake late, leading to an Oliver Ekman-Larsson goal with .3 seconds remaining in the game to give Arizona a 2-1 win.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: A full sixty minutes is a must. The Oilers have looked better since Nelson took over, but have had small stretches where the game has just fallen apart on them. Instead of being 0-1-2, they could easily be 3-0 since the coaching change. If they can play a full sixty, they should finally get that victory.

Arizona: A quick start is key tonight for the Coyotes. If Arizona has a slow start and falls behind early again, they could simply fold like they did 24 hours ago in Vancouver. A quick start should get their legs going and should put the Oilers on their heels.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Jordan Eberle has been quiet lately, but hasn’t been playing bad hockey. Eberle has had some success against Arizona in his career too, and seems overdue for a good night. I’ll get a little bold and suggest he breaks through with a solid two goal night tonight. I have a good feeling here.

Arizona: Yotes forward Mikkel Boedker has owned Edmonton this season, posting huge point totals against them in their previous meetings. Boedker didn’t do much last week, but usually doesn’t go more than a game or two against Edmonton without putting up points. I’ll say he gets a goal tonight against this weak Edmonton defense.

Quick Hits:

Arizona has won all four previous meetings between the sides this season, with three of those wins coming in regulation. Todd Nelson is still looking for his first win as a head coach in the NHL, he is currently 0-1-2. Edmonton has won only a single game since November 9th, a win over San Jose 16 days ago.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Teddy Purcell

David Perron – Mark Arcobello – Jordan Eberle

Nail Yakupov – Leon Draisaitl – Tyler Pitlick

Luke Gazdic – Boyd Gordon – Steve Pinizzotto

Oscar Klefbom – Mark Fayne

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Brad Hunt – Justin Schultz

Ben Scrivens

Arizona Coyotes Lines:

Mikkel Boedker – Antoine Vermette – Shane Doan

Tobias Rieder – Martin Hanzal – Sam Gagner

Martin Erat – Kyle Chipchura – David Moss

Brandon McMillan – Joe Vitale – B.J. Crombeen

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Zbynek Michalek

Keith Yandle – Connor Murphy

Brandon Gormley – Michael Stone

Devan Dubnyk