Oilers Gameday vs Los Angeles: Who Even Knows….

The Oilers are back ina ction tonight after an overtime victory against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. Oscar Klefbom scored the winner, bringing himself into a tie with Ryan Spooner, Milan Lucic, Zack Kassian, Kris Russell, Jason Garrison, Jesse Puljujarvi, Matt Benning, Kailer Yamamoto and Evan Bouchard for 10th on the list of Oiler goal scorers.

Keys to the Game

Edmonton

• It’s so cliche, but pucks to the net and lots of them. Someone, somewhere, has heat maps for the Oilers when Connor McDavid is on the ice and when he’s not. They’re not good.

Los Angeles

• Again, the Oilers weakness is in net and on the blue line. So if the Kings can exploit those back-end troubles, then it’s possible they can force a goalie change.

Players to Watch

Edmonton

• Connor McDavid does pretty great things on the ice, but his back looks tired from carrying the entire team.
• Cam Talbot is looking for his first win in a month. He’s had an .855 sv% since October 28, and that is not good enough.

Los Angeles

• Until just this minute, no one knew what a Matt Luff was, so….
• For real, who are these LA Kings? Are they even real hockey players?

Projected Lineups

Edmonton

Leon Draisaitl – Connor McDavid – Alex Chiasson

Drake Caggiula – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jesse Puljujarvi

Milan Lucic – Kyle Brodziak – Zack Kassian

Jujhar Khaira – Ryan Spooner – Patrick Russell

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson

Darnell Nurse – Kris Russell

Kevin Gravel – Matt Benning

Cam Talbot

Los Angeles

Alex Iafallo – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown

Kyle Clifford – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli

Ilya Kovalchuk – Adrian Kempe – Matt Luff

Austin Wagner – Nate Thompson – Sheldon Rempal

Derek Forbort – Drew Doughty

Jake Muzzin – Alec Martinez

Dion Phaneuf – Paul Ladue

Jonathan Quick

Notes

Yesterday, on the PDOCast, Frank Seravalli absolutely carved Peter Chiarelli’s management of the Oilers. It’s refreshing to see that *someone* in the media is capable of saying actual negative things about Chia, because we are all well aware that no one in Edmonton will.

"His portfolio in Edmonton is abysmal; the way that he left the Boston Bruins in salary cap jail; inheriting the Oilers knowing that he's gonna get Connor McDavid, like somehow this team is in a worse spot than they were when he took over, both cap-wise & asset-wise"

— Belfour's Billionaire Boys Club (@akaRCN) November 28, 2018

I have said it before and I’ll say it again here: I firmly believe that I could be the GM of the Oilers while also teaching and coaching full time. You know how I know? I wouldn’t have done anything in the immediate aftermath of Connor’s rookie year.