Carrying on with a victory in their pocket courtesy of the Arizona Coyotes, and a shiny little 3 game win streak, the Edmonton Oilers will head into battle against the Florida Panthers tonight in their 47th game of the season.
Edmonton currently sits 2nd in the Pacific Division, but has San Jose and Calgary snapping at their heels, with each team within 4 points. Additionally, Los Angeles sits 7 points back, but has 2 games in hand. Gathering as many points as possible before the grind of their February schedule has, and will continue to be, crucial for the Oiler squad.
One thing working to the advantage of the Oilers is a pair of games this week against opponents who will be playing on the latter half of back-to-backs, with Nashville visiting on Friday, and the Panthers in town tonight.
Florida was in Calgary yesterday evening and did not look good at all. A relatively under-performing team on the latter side of a double header should most definitely signal some blood in the water for the Edmonton Oilers.
If the Orange and Blue are serious about making the postseason, they will recognize the opportunity in front of them tonight and take full advantage for the pair of points.
Keys To The Game
Edmonton: The Oilers had a much better start to the game against the Coyotes on Monday and would be wise to follow suit with the same early energy tonight. As noted above, Florida will have played just 24 hours before, so getting on them early will be go a long ways in setting up a successful game.
Potting an early goal or 2 would also help to drain the morale of the Panthers, who have lost 2 of their last 3.
Florida: If the Panthers want to be successful they will find a way to do 2 things.
- Shut Down the Top Line: Much easier said than done as top line for Edmonton is currently one of the best in the league; but, if Florida can shut it down, that will go a very long way in quieting the Oilers offence.
- Draw Penalties: With the top line subdued, the Panthers will still have to score on a very good Cam Talbot. One way to do it is on the man advantage, where Edmonton has played some of its weakest hockey.
Players To Watch
Edmonton: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played one of, if not his best game of the season against Arizona. If he can keep the ball rolling and get hot, that is massive news for the Oilers and will make them all kinds of dangerous down the stretch. How he plays tonight should give us a pretty good look into his near future.
Florida: Aaron Ekblad was the number one selection in the 2014 NHL entry draft. Just a couple slots behind him, Leon Draisaitl was selected. One spark of debate that has popped up the last couple of days is, knowing what we know now, what player would you rather the Oilers have. Take a look tonight and think about the question yourself.
The Lines
The Oilers will roll out the exact same lineup that took the ice on Monday.
Edmonton Oilers
Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl
Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Milan Lucic – Drake Caggiula – Anton Slepyshev
Jujhar Khaira – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian
Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell
Brandon Davidson – Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
Florida Panthers
Jared McCann – Vincent Trocheck – Jaromir Jagr
Jonathan Marchessault – Jussi Jokinen – Reilly Smith
Derek MacKenzie – Michael Sgarbossa – Colton Sceviour
Shawn Thornton – Greg McKegg – Paul Thompson
Keith Yandle – Mark Pysyk
Michael Matheson – Jason Demers
Jakub Kindl – Aaron Ekblad
James Reimer
Points of Interest
- A win tonight (that’d be #25 on the season) and the Oilers will surpass the win total of the 2014/2015 edition of the team. I apologize for triggering your PDESD (Post Dallas Eakins Stress Disorder).
- Jordan Eberle had multiple chances to score the other night, hitting the post on one beautiful chance and being robbed by Mike Smith on another. Can he hit the board tonight? He has 5 goals in 8 career games against Florida.
- Andrej Sekera, after exiting the Coyotes game a couple minutes early due to a shot block, is good to go tonight. That’s a big break for Edmonton.
- Take some time tonight to focus in on watching Matt Benning play. He has put together an excellent rookie season and is getting better every night. If he continues to trend in the same direction, the future of the Oilers blue line looks to be in very good shape.
Prediction
My expectations for the club have grown substantially over the past month or so and I am now gaining more and more confident in expecting Oilers wins in games like this. The Oilers should be expected to win this game, and I think they will.
Jordan Eberle (2), Andrej Sekera and Connor McDavid are your goal scorers tonight in a 4-1 win. The ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr gets the lone goal for Florida to spoil the shutout.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
