Oilers Gameday – Vs. Ducks

The Oilers conclude a three game home-stand tonight with a visit from their division rivals, the Anaheim Ducks. This will be the third meeting of a four game set between the sides, who finish up their set of games in April.

The Oilers will be without F’s Taylor Hall, Anton Lander and Matt Fraser, while D’s Nikita Nikitin and Jeff Petry will both be out as well. The Ducks, meanwhile, will be without F Matt Beleskey and D Sami Vatanen, who are both on the IR.

Richard Bachman is expected to get his first start for the Oilers this season, while John Gibson is likely to start for the Ducks.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers hosted the Wild last night in a pretty humbling loss. Edmonton was thoroughly dominated by the Wild, but controlled the shot clock for the final fifty minutes of the game. After a decent start by Edmonton, Justin Fontaine took all the wind out of Edmonton’s sails when he tipped home a Christian Folin shot 10:18 in.

Moments later, Nino Niederreiter would bang home a rebound that basically put the game away. Edmonton struggled to create anything resembling offense from this point on, while Jordan Schroeder and Justin Fontaine each added insurance goals to put things away.

Devan Dubnyk would stop fifteen shots all night, and get another shut-out for the Wild, preserving a 4-0 victory and two huge points.

Anaheim: The Ducks also played last night, as they were in Calgary against the surging Flames. Calgary got going early, playing a solid first period and getting the game’s first goal compliments of Matt Stajan at the 14:50 mark.

The second period saw Calgary open up a 2-0 lead, as Lance Bouma scored 11:02 in. The Ducks, however, were determined to have a role reversal with the comeback Flames, and started things with an Andrew Cogliano goal late in the middle frame.

The Ducks would take it over in the third period, as Francois Beauchemin scored to tie things early on. Ryan Getzlaf, Kyle Palmieri, Jakob Silfverberg, and Hampus Lindholm would all score in the third as well, while Sean Monahan would get a stat padder for Calgary in a lost third. The goals would give the Ducks a 6-3 victory.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Ducks last met in December in Anaheim for a tilt that ended a home-and-home series between the sides. The Ducks dominated the first period, out-shooting Edmonton 10-3 and scoring the lone goal thanks to a power-play marker by Sami Vatanen 4:56 in.

The Ducks would extend their lead with two goals within the first minute of the second compliments of Kyle Palmieri and Ryan Getzlaf, seemingly putting the game away. The Oilers would battle back however, as Tyler Pitlick would blast home his first of the season at the 15:24 mark.

Jeff Petry would cut the lead to just one goal at the 12:40 mark of the third period, putting life back into the Oilers’ sails. It was short lived, however, as Nate Thompson would score an empty net goal to preserve the 4-2 Duck win.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: A good start is key for the Oilers tonight. Edmonton has started slow against the Ducks before, and has paid for it in big ways. Tonight, Edmonton needs to be ready for the challenge from the start, pushing the pace and getting some chances on a tired team that had to travel last night from Calgary.

Anaheim: Play physical tonight and you’ll run away with this game. The Ducks are a big, tough, physical and skilled team. If they start firing on all cylinders, it will be a very ugly tilt in Edmonton tonight. Play to your strengths and push Edmonton around, and the success against this team will continue.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: F Nail Yakupov had his six game point streak snapped on Friday night, but he’s been playing really good lately. That said, Nail has not had much success against this Anaheim team over the years. Will he finally break out against them tonight? I’ll be watching that closely.

Anaheim: F Andrew Cogliano, a former Oiler, will play his 600th NHL game tonight. Cogliano is a solid depth player who provides an offensive spark and some real speed. He’s fit in well with the Ducks, and has haunted the Oilers for years. I’ll suggest he celebrates in style with a goal tonight.

Quick Hits:

The Ducks are 19-3-1 against Edmonton since March 31, 2009, a dominating stretch. Anaheim F Andrew Cogliano will play his 600th NHL game tonight, while F Corey Perry will be playing in his 700th. Cogliano is 12th on the Ducks in terms of points with just 19 in 59 games. Oilers rookie D Jordan Oesterle will make his NHL debut tonight against the Ducks.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Teddy Purcell – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Ryan Hamilton – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov

Luke Gazdic – Benoit Pouliot – Iiro Pakarinen

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon -Rob Klinkhammer

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Andrew Ference – Jordan Oesterle

Martin Marincin – Mark Fayne

Richard Bachman

Anaheim Ducks Lines:

Patrick Maroon – Ryan Getzlaf – Kyle Palmieri

Devante Smith-Pelly – Ryan Kesler – Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano – Rickard Rakell – Jakob Silfverberg

Rene Bourque – Nate Thompson – Tim Jackman

Cam Fowler – Ben Lovejoy

Hampus Lindholm – Francois Beauchemin

Clayton Stoner – Josh Manson

John Gibson