Oilers Gameday – Vs. Lightning

The Edmonton Oilers open up a three game homestand tonight at Rexall Place against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This will be the second and final meeting between the Oilers and Bolts, who met back in November in Florida.

The Bolts will be without star Steven Stamkos, who has been out since November with a broken bone in his leg. Stamkos is making progress towards a return, but simply isn’t ready to play yet. The Bolts will send Ben Bishop, who nearly became an Oiler last Trade Deadline, in between the pipes.

Oilers forward Jordan Eberle, who missed Friday night’s loss, will return to the lineup tonight and play on the top line with Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Defender Brad Hunt, who was recalled on Friday, will play in his second NHL game. Ilya Bryzgalov will get the start.

The Bolts are 13-7-4 without Stamkos, and still sit in a playoff spot in the Atlantic division out east. Meanwhile, Edmonton is on a four game losing streak, having fallen to Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Jose and Anaheim.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers last took the ice back on Friday night in Anaheim against the Ducks, and despite a hot start, once again fell short. Boyd Gordon scored just 35 seconds in with a beautiful falling play, but the Ducks would tie it eleven seconds later with a Kyle Palmieri goal.

The Oilers would once again take a lead, as Nail Yakupov would back hand a puck into the net during a scrum in front at the 11:06 mark. The Ducks would push and tie it again, as Ben Lovejoy would blast home a shot at 17:12. Less than two minutes later, with about five seconds left, Lovejoy would again beat Bryzgalov with a long blast to give the Ducks a lead.

The second period featured some chances on both sides, but the Ducks would get the long goal as Tim Jackman would be left alone in front of the net and beat Bryz with 44 seconds left in the frame.

The Ducks would spend most of the third period on a power-play due to a Taylor Hall high-stick, and Andrew Cogliano would seal it with a break-away even strength goal late. Hiller would be solid throughout and the Ducks would win 5-2.

Tampa Bay: The Bolts last played on Friday night, playing game two in Western Canada with a battle in Calgary against the Flames. Calgary appeared to have scored in the opening minutes, but the goal was called off due to a whistle, and the frame ended up ending in a scoreless tie.

In the second, the Bolts would take over and get the game’s first goal thanks to an Ondrej Palat wrist shot just under six minutes in. The Bolts would strike again at the 10:20 mark, as Nikita Kucherov would snap home a shot.

Calgary would press in the third, but Ben Bishop would hold the fort and stop 19 total shots for a big shut-out. It would be the Bolts fifth road win in a row, this one coming by a 2-0 score.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers paid a visit to Tampa Bay earlier this year, and played quite well actually. The Oilers outplayed Tampa Bay in the first, but found themselves down by one after a bad turnover led to a Steve Stamkos goal. Taylor Fedun would tie things up a little over three minutes later with a long wrist shot, but Stamkos would again give Tampa a lead after a weak goal against Devan Dubnyk.

In the second, Tyler Johnson would score a goal that could be classified as a weak one on Dubnyk. Edmonton would get within a goal as Taylor Hall would fire one home on the PP, but Tampa would put it away with an empty net goal thanks to Valtteri Filppula. Ben Bishop would stop 38 shots in the 4-2 win for Tampa Bay.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Oilers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov has found a way to bounce back from his rough starts in Edmonton to this point. Tonight, Bryz will get the chance to avenge a tough loss in Anaheim on Friday night. Bryzgalov gave up a few goals that shouldn’t go in, but I suspect he’ll bounce back and play quite well tonight.

Tampa Bay: Bolts forward Tyler Johnson has had a good rookie year for the Bolts this year. He was the forward that made Corey Conacher movable last year, and he hasn’t disappointed this season. He’s a smaller forward, but has great speed, a high skill level, and a decent two-way game. He buys into the system and plays a 200-foot game. Oilers could learn a thing or two from him.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins- Jordan Eberle

Nail Yakupov – Sam Gagner – David Perron

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Ales Hemsky

Luke Gazdic – Mark Arcobello – Ryan Jones

Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz

Anton Belov – Jeff Petry

Martin Marincin – Brad Hunt

Ilya Bryzgalov

Tampa Bay Lightning Lines:

Ondrej Palat – Tyler Johnson – Martin St. Louis

Alex Killorn – Valtteri Filppula – Teddy Purcell

Nikita Kucherov – Nate Thompson – J.T. Brown

Ryan Malone – Richard Panik – Jean-Philippe Cote

Matt Carle – Radko Gudas

Victor Hedman – Andrej Sustr

Eric Brewer – Mark Barberio

Ben Bishop