Oilers Gameday – Vs. Flames

It’s here. After six months of waiting and thinking out possible scenarios, the boys will finally take the ice tonight at Rexall Place. The Oilers open their 35th NHL season with a date against the Calgary Flames, the first Battle of Alberta for the 2014-15 campaign. The Flames will be entering tonight in the second half of back-to-back games, while Edmonton enters tonight having been off since Saturday’s pre-season finale.

The 1984 Stanley Cup team, being honored on Friday night, will be in the house tonight as well, and that includes the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.

The Last Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers last took the ice for a regular season tilt back on April 12th, in what would be Ryan Smyth’s final NHL contest. It would be an emotional night, and the Oilers would harness that emotion into a big time victory to send off one of their leaders and arguably the best post-dynasty Oiler.

The Oilers got an early lead thanks to a Roman Horak goal 2:14 in, and never looked back from there. Jeff Petry added the insurance with a quick shot at the 13:17 mark off of a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins feed, while Ben Scrivens made 18, yes 18, saves in the first period.

The second period saw Edmonton extend their lead to three with a Will Acton goal 2:14 into the frame compliments a Phil Larsen feed. The Canucks drew within two thanks to a Shawn Matthias marker, but Edmonton would re-take their three goal advantage thanks to a Jordan Eberle power-play goal at the 16:06 mark.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zack Kassian would trade goals in the third period, but the result would already be determined. Edmonton, backed by 40 Ben Scrivens saves, would claim the 5-2 victory to end the 2013-14 season.

Calgary: The Flames opened their 2014-15 slate last night with a home date against the Vancouver Canucks, who were also opening their season. The sides would play a relatively even first period, but Vancouver got the better of everything, from shots on goal to scoring chances. As a result, the Canucks struck first, as Alex Burrows tipped home a shot on the power-play at the 11:55 mark.

The Flames tied things up 4:08 into the second thanks to a Paul Byron goal, but the Canucks quickly regained the lead on a pretty passing play that saw Linden Vey set up power-forward Zack Kassian. Vancouver extended their lead at the 11:07 mark thanks to Radim Vrbata’s first goal as a Canuck, but the Flames struck back with a Hudler goal two minutes later to make it a 3-2 contest.

The third period saw Calgary make a push, but Ryan Miller stood tall and stopped all nine shots against. Henrik Sedin sealed the 4-2 win with an empty net goal, pushing the Flames to 0-1.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: The Flames will be in the second half of back-to-back games, and will be playing their backup goalie tonight. Edmonton’s key is early pressure on Calgary’s tired roster tonight. If Edmonton can set the tone early and get some scoring chances in the first few minutes, Calgary may just role over here. The Oilers are clearly better on paper, and asserting that on a tired team early is absolutely key tonight. Use the emotion of opening night!

Calgary: The Flames are likely to be tired tonight, and with a back-up goalie in, the game plan has to be simple. Edmonton lives for the pretty plays, so the Flames key for tonight is to keep everything the Oilers do to the outside. Edmonton has very few strong shots from the point, and the Oilers seemingly have struggled forever at creating stuff from outside of the slot area. Force Edmonton to do that tonight, and you have a great chance of snagging two points.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Center Leon Draisaitl makes his NHL debut tonight with veteran Benoit Pouliot and youngster Nail Yakupov on his line. Leon, the third overall pick in June, has a great combination of size, speed and skill, and was known for his puck possession game in juniors. He’s exactly what Edmonton needs on the second line, and will be a key to the future success of this squad. In his first NHL contest, he will be well worth watching.

Calgary: Flames captain Mark Giordano is one of the NHL’s best defenders, and is extremely underrated on a bad Flames team. Gio is going to be tasked with handling the Oiler top-line tonight, and will have to find a way to shut-down Hall, Nuge and Eberle. It’s tough, but he’s done it before, and because of that he will be the most interesting Flame to watch.

Gameday Prediction:

At home, opening night, against a team starting their back-up goalie and on the second half of back-to-back tilts. This game is basically a must win for the Edmonton Oilers. They must get off to a good start, and I’m sensing some urgency in that locker room. As a result, I see Edmonton controlling this game tonight and snapping a two year home opener losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Flames. Hall, Pouliot and Hunt get the markers.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Benoit Pouliot – Leon Draisaitl – Nail Yakupov

David Peron – Mark Arcobello – Teddy Purcell

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Jesse Joensuu

Nikita Nikitin – Mark Fayne

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry

Brad Hunt – Justin Schultz

Ben Scrivens

Calgary Flames Lines:

Curtis Glencr0ss – Sean Monahan -Jiri Hudler

Mason Raymond – Mikael Backlund – Lance Bouma

Johnny Gaudreau – Joe Colborne – Paul Byron

Brandon Bollig – Matt Stajan – Brian McGrattan

TJ Brodie – Mark Giordano

Kris Russell – Deryk Engelland

Ladislav Smid – Dennis Wideman

Karri Ramo