Oilers Gameday vs Detroit: Can We Start The All Star Break Already?

oilers wings

Ahhh the NHL All-Star break. The time to relax, have some fun and forget about the past few games of this Oilers season.

Tonight, the Oilers finish the unofficial first half of the season by welcoming the last place Detroit Red Wings to Rogers Place. The Oilers come into this one having dropped their past two games and are looking to end things on the right foot.

The Red Wings come into things struggling this year as the worst team in the NHL and losers of two straight games of their own. The fall of the Red Wings over the past five seasons has been something to watch as they currently have a mark of 18-25-7 for 43 points.

Keys To The Game

Detroit

-Hold on for dear life when Dylan Larkin, Gustav Nyquist or Andreas Athanasiou are not on the ice.

Edmonton

-When facing a team in as much of a freefall as the Wings, insert one Connor McDavid to the ice.

The Lineups 

Detroit

Tyler Bertuzzi-Dylan Larkin-Gustav Nyquist

Thomas Vanek-Frans Nielsen-Anthony Mantha

Andreas Athanasiou-Luke Glendening-Darren Helm

Christopher Ehn-Jacob De La Rose-Justin Abdelkader

Niklas Kronwall-Mike Green

Dan Dekeyser-Nick Jensen

Jonathan Ericsson-Filip Hronek

Jimmy Howard

Edmonton

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Connor McDavid-Jesse Puljujarvi

Jujhar Khaira-Leon Draisaitl-Alex Chiasson

Milan Lucic-Kyle Broadziak-Zack Kassian

Ryan Spooner-Colby Cave-Kailer Yamamoto

Darnell Nurse-Adam Larsson

Kris Russell-Matt Benning

Brandon Manning-Alex Petrovic

Mikko Koskinen

Other Notes

If this game goes the way of the Wings quickly, these towels may be hitting the Rogers Place ice at the final buzzer.

Prediction

A very up and down first half goes the way of the home side in a 2-1 overtime win with the Oiler goals coming from McDavid and Zack Kassian.

 

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