Oilers Gameday – Vs. Flames

It’s time to buck a trend in Edmonton. The Oilers have alternated wins and losses the last seven contests, and the last result was a win. Play the Hall and Oates album, blast Private Eyes, it’s time for another winning streak. The Oilers looks to make it two in a row as they host Calgary tonight in the second edition of the battle of Alberta.

The Flames come into Edmonton for the second half of back-to-back games, while Edmonton is riding the momentum of an 8-2 win over Colorado on Thursday night. The Oilers are on a good little run right now, while the Flames have fallen back towards earth.

The Oilers placed forward Boyd Gordon on the IR with a shoulder injury, and have brought defender Anton Belov back up from the OKC Barons. Goalie Richard Bachman is also back to health, and is expected to handle backup duty tonight, while Jason Labarbera is expected to sit in the press box.

Flames defender Ladislav Smid will play his former team for the second time since his early season deal, and will return to Rexall ice for the first time since the deal in early November.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers hosted Colorado in what turned out to be a lopsided affair on Thursday night. Taylor Hall opened the scoring on a break-away just under four minutes in thanks to a feed from Philip Larsen, and would add a second tally on the PP with a one-time blast at the 17:42 mark. Ales Hemsky would make it 3-0 15 seconds later with a slick move thanks to a beauty feed from Ryan Smyth.

In the second, the Av’s would get goals from Nick Holden and PA Parenteau to make 3-2, but Edmonton would break-away from that point on. David Perron would fire a shot home at 12:06, which would basically end the game.

The Oilers got goals from Mark Arcobello, Jordan Eberle, Sam Gagner and the hat-trick marker from Taylor Hall to make it 8-2, which would be the final result.

Calgary: One night after getting shelled in Edmonton, the Av’s headed to Calgary to take on the Flames. Kris Russell would give the Flames a 1-0 on the PP just over seven minutes in, a lead which would hold until the second.

In that second period, Max Talbot would tie things up late, and the Av’s would take a lead 54 seconds later as PA Parenteau would snap a shot home.

The Av’s got a 3-1 lead thanks to a Nathan MacKinnon goal in the early minutes of the third that would end up being the winner. Matt Stajan would make things interesting by making it 3-2 in the final two minutes, but it was simply too little too late.

Last Meeting:

The teams last met back on November 16th in Calgary in a wild affair the sparked Edmonton’s recent good stretch. The Flames dominated the first period, getting the better chances and the lone goal, a Sean Monahan tally at the 12:23 mark.

In the second period, Dennis Wideman would blast home a power-play goal with under three minutes to play to put the Flames up two, a lead that would hold into the third.

In the third, Edmonton finally would take over and test Flames starter Reto Berra. Jordan Eberle would wrist home a shot 3:41 to make it a one goal game, while Ales Hemsky would tie things up by batting in a rebound at the 8:18 mark.

Edmonton took a lead as David Perron would score off a bad angle at the 10:23 mark, and the Oilers would seal it with a Boyd Gordon empty net marker late, holding on to the 4-2 win.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: The Oilers have played well recently, and a big part of that is the play of forward David Perron. Perron has been getting under the opponent’s skin, has been creating offense, and has been dominating the game when on the ice recently. He’s been arguably Edmonton’s best forward recently, and I fully expect him to put on another show tonight in a big game for the Oilers.

Calgary: Ladislav Smid makes his return to Edmonton tonight, and is well worth watching. The warrior, who gave his body no matter what, will return to Rexall for the first time, and should be welcomed back with a resounding round of applause. He gave everything he could to this team, and should be remembered for that. I suspect he’ll try and prove Oilers management wrong as well.

Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers Lineup:

Taylor Hall – Sam Gagner – Nail Yakupov

David Perron – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Ryan Smyth – Mark Arcobello – Ales Hemsky

Luke Gazdic – Anton Lander – Ryan Jones

Andrew Ference – Philip Larsen

Nick Schultz – Justin Schultz

Martin Marincin – Jeff Petry

Devan Dubnyk

Calgary Flames Lineup:

Mike Cammalleri – Matt Stajan – Lee Stempniak

Jiri Hudler – Mikael Backlund – David Jones

Sven Baertschi – Paul Byron – Blair Jones

Lane MacDermid – Lance Bouma – Derek Smith

Chris Butler – Mark Giordano

Kris Russell – T.J. Brodie

Ladislav Smid – Shane O’Brien

Reto Berra