Oilers Gameday – Vs. Flyers

The Edmonton Oilers return home tonight to battle the Philadelphia Flyers in the second and final meeting between the sides this season. The two met back in November in Philly in a game that arguably changed the Flyers fortunes on the year. Edmonton will look for that kind of turnaround game tonight.

The Oilers are playing in the second half of back-to-back games, as the team played last night in Calgary. Meanwhile in Philly, this is the Flyers first game since the Christmas break, and kicks off a lengthy road trip for the Bullies from Broad Street.

Oilers defender Corey Potter injured his groin and missed the third period last night, so call-up Martin Marincin is expected to jump into the lineup to take his place. Forwards Ryan Jones and Mark Arcobello are both expected to miss the game with injuries, while defender Philip Larsen is still battling an illness.

Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov will start for the Oilers. Bryz played two seasons with the Flyers and was bought out this past summer. Steve Mason is expected to start for the Flyers. Mason has struggled in his career at Rexall, and one might call it a house of horrors for the former Blue Jacket.

Philadelphia is looking to break slump tonight, as they have not won at Rexall Place since March of 2001, going 0-3-1 in that time.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers headed a little bit south last night to take on the Calgary Flames in a hard fought, but rather dull, Battle of Alberta. The Flames controlled the play early, and appeared to take a lead on a Mark Giordano goal, but the goal was waved off due to goalie interference.

The Oilers found their legs, and began their assault on Reto Berra shortly after. Ales Hemsky dished a high pass to Ryan Smyth that banked in off the veteran’s chest for a 1-0 lead 17:22 into the period.

Devan Dubnyk would weather the storm in an even second period, while the Oilers took total control in the third. Reto Berra made some fantastic saves to keep it a one goal game, but the Flames simply couldn’t create many great chances and couldn’t solve Devan Dubnyk. Giordano would take a penalty late to squander any chance of a rally.

Ryan Smyth would add his second of the night on the PP, by firing into the empty net with just six seconds to go. Dubnyk would stop 27 shots en route to the 2-0 win and his second shut-out of the season.

Philadelphia: The Flyers last took the ice on Monday night against the Minnesota Wild in a game which never was really in doubt. Luke Schenn scored just 1:52 in on a long wrist shot. Philly would extend the lead at the mid-way point as Wayne Simmonds would score on the PP. Mikael Grandlund would draw the Wild within one six minutes later, but that would be it for Minny.

The Flyers added an insurance goal in the second thanks to a Claude Giroux marker, and then put it away with a Wayne Simmonds empty net goal. Steve Mason continued his impressive season with a 26 save performance, and the Flyers continued their recent hot-streak with the 4-1 win over the Wild.

Last Meeting:

The two sides met back on November 9th in Philadelphia on an afternoon where the Oilers looked lost. Edmonton started out quite strong, but would lose all momentum when Jay Rosehill would beat his man to the net and tip home a Mark Streit shot. Philly would also get a Scott Hartnell goal from the slot at 17:16 to go up 2-0.

Edmonton would battle back in the second, led by a Luke Gazdic scrap with Rosehill. Edmonton would test Mason, and finally beat him with a David Perron goal with just over a minute to play in the period. Dubnyk would stop nine Flyer shots in the period.

In the third, Philly finally got a Claude Giroux goal, on a weak shot, to go up 3-1 just eleven minutes into the frame. Taylor Hall would rifle a shot home moments later to make it 3-2, but a quick response from Vinny Lecavalier would seal the deal for the Flyers with a 4-2 decision.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Forward Nail Yakupov hasn’t seen much ice time recently, but Dallas Eakins is noticing some improvements in the young star’s game. Some believe that Eakins is using the same tough love technique with Nail that he used with Nazem Kadri in Toronto. Yakupov is expected to see some PP time tonight, and I get the feeling he’s waiting to break out.

Philadelphia: Flyers forward Claude Giroux has woken up. After an awful first month, Giroux snapped his scoring slump in that November 9th meeting against the Oil and has been white hot since. Giroux has been one of the NHL’s best players recently and is putting on a show. I suspect that will continue tonight against a weak Oiler blue-line.

Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – David Perron

Jesse Joensuu – Sam Gagner – Jordan Eberle

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Ales Hemsky

Luke Gazdic – Anton Lander – Nail Yakupov

Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz

Anton Belov – Jeff Petry

Nick Schultz – Martin Marincin

Ilya Bryzgalov

Philadelphia Flyers Lines:

Michael Raffl – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek

Scott Hartnell – Brayden Schenn – Wayne Simmonds

Matt Read – Sean Couturier – Vinny Lecavalier

Steve Downie – Adam Hall – Zac Rinaldo

Kimmo Timonen – Braydon Coburn

Mark Streit – Nicklas Grossman

Luke Schenn – Andrej Meszaros

Steve Mason