Following a trio of embarrassing defeats, the Edmonton Oilers return to the ice tonight to battle the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are in the midst of a playoff chase, while the Oilers are looking to get some pride back after falling to these guys 8-2 last Thursday night.
The Oilers will be without F’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Boyd Gordon, along with D’s Nikita Nikitin, Andrew Ference and Mark Fayne. The team sent F Andrew Miller to the AHL on Tuesday, while activating F Tyler Pitlick off the IR. Meanwhile, the Kings will be without F Tanner Pearson, who is on the IR currently.
Richard Bachman, who missed the last three games due to a death in his family, gets the start tonight, while Jonathan Quick starts for Los Angeles.
Last Game:
Edmonton: The Oilers last played on Saturday night at Rexall as they hosted the Calgary Flames in the Battle of Alberta. The Oilers got the first few chances of the game, but Jonas Hiller shut Edmonton down and set up a chance for the Flames, who converted as Joe Colborne knocked the puck past Scrivens just 1:59 in.
Edmonton would control the play the rest of the period, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Edmonton would control the first part of the second period as well, but Jonas Hiller simply wouldn’t let anything past, as he shut-down every Oiler chance. Markus Granlund would give Calgary insurance at the 17:56 mark, and that would essentially end this game.
The Flames dominated the third period, getting goals from Dennis Wideman and a second from Granlund to seal the 4-0 victory. Jonas Hiller would stop 27 Oiler shots for the shut-out.
Los Angeles: The Kings were in Vancouver on Monday night to battle the Canucks in a massive game for playoff position out west. LA got going early, scoring just 1:13 in compliments of a Dwight King marker. After that, however, Eddie Lack stood tall, giving his Canucks a chance.
Vancouver rope-a-doped their way through the first two periods, but awoke in the third period and began to push the pace. They were rewarded with a Daniel Sedin goal off of a pretty Henrik Sedin feed at the 9:54 mark to force overtime.
OT would solve nothing, so the sides headed to a shoot-out. Chris Higgins would score the lone goal of the skills competition in the third round, while Eddie lack would stop all three LA shooters to seal the 2-1 victory for Vancouver.
Last Meeting:
The Oilers and Kings met at Staples Center last Thursday in a game that can only be called embarrassing for the Oil. The Kings dominated from the opening draw, absolutely sticking it to Edmonton in every regard. Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik and Drew Doughty would all score within the first ten minutes to essentially end the game.
Teddy Purcell would get the Oilers within two 7:55 into the middle period, but Ben Scrivens would give up two weak goals, one to Jordan Nolan and another to Jeff Carter. The Kings would add three more tallies in the third, thanks to Robyn Regehr, Jeff Carter and Marian Gaborik, while Jordan Eberle would score for Edmonton to make it an 8-2 final.
Keys To The Game:
Edmonton: Show some damn pride! The Oilers rolled over and died last Thursday night against these Kings, falling 8-2. Jordan Eberle called it embarrassing, and also mentioned how the Kings treated Edmonton like a junior team. The Kings mentioned how they felt bad for Tyler Bunz too, they felt bad. Forget winning, just bring an effort tonight, show you care and have some respect for yourself, for each other, and for the fans.
Los Angeles: Physical hockey, that’s it. The Kings brought their physical style the last two times these teams met, and they rolled over Edmonton in both meetings. If they bring it again tonight, creating chances with their size, they’ll once again steam roll a smaller, weaker, Oiler team.
Players To Watch:
Edmonton: F Taylor Hall actually played decently well on Saturday night while playing center, and he’ll be called on again to play the position tonight. It’s not Hall’s normal spot, but it’s the situation we find ourselves in. Can Hall help generate something against a Kings team that has owned him? We’ll see, I’ll certainly be watching.
Los Angeles: F Marian Gaborik has awoken, and he can thank the Oilers. Gaborik was in a cold stretch when these teams met last week, but his two goals broke the dam. Gaborik has always tormented the Oilers, and I doubt that it stops tonight. Against an extremely weak and inexperienced defense, Gaborik could double those two goals he scored last week.
Quick Hits:
The Oilers have lost three in a row by a combined score of 17-3, arguably their worst three game stretch of the season. The Kings, meanwhile, are in the thick of the playoff chase with the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames. Edmonton’s last win against Los Angeles came back on December 30th, 2014, a 3-2 shoot-out decision at Rexall Place.
The Lines:
Edmonton Oilers Lines:
Benoit Pouliot – Taylor Hall – Jordan Eberle
Teddy Purcell – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov
Tyler Pitlick – Anton Lander – Matt Fraser
Luke Gazdic – Matt Hendricks – Rob Klinkhammer
Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz
Martin Marincin – David Musil
Brandon Davidson – Keith Aulie
Richard Bachman
Los Angeles Kings Lines:
Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Dwight King – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Trevor Lewis – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford – Nick Shore – Jordan Nolan
Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Alec Martinez
Brayden McNabb – Matt Greene
Jonathan Quick
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