Oilers Gameday – Vs. Maple Leafs

The Oilers return home from their winless five game road trip tonight to host the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second and final meeting between the sides on the season. The Oilers are opening a six game home-stand, while the Leafs are closing out their western road trip.

The Oilers will be without F’s Taylor Hall, Tyler Pitlick and Iiro Pakarinen tonight, while F Matt Fraser will be the healthy scratch. Defensively, D Nikita Nikitin will once again be out tonight for Edmonton. For the Leafs, D’s Stephane Robidas and Roman Polak will both be out.

Ben Scrivens starts for Edmonton, while Jonathan Bernier gets the start for Toronto.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers were last on the ice Friday night in Columbus in a game where Edmonton deserved a better fate. The Jackets controlled the first period, scoring just 43 seconds in compliments a Marko Dano goal to take the lead. The Jackets would add insurance with just three seconds left on a Cam Atkinson goal, but after that, Edmonton controlled the pace.

Jordan Eberle and Derek Roy each scored power-play markers in the first 13 minutes of the middle frame to tie the game, while the Oilers also fired a ton of shots on net. The Jackets would regain the lead on a pretty goal from Artem Anisimov, but Andrew Ference would answer three minutes later to tie things at three.

The Oilers got their first lead of the night on a five-on-three 3:26 into the third as Nail Yakupov blasted home a shot, but Columbus would push back and tie the game as Scott Hartnell banged home a rebound with just over three minutes to play.

Overtime solved nothing, and the sides headed to a shoot-out dominated by the goalies. Both Bobrovsky and Scrivens were perfect until Alex Wennberg was the hero for Columbus in the fifth round, giving the Jackets a 5-4 victory.

Toronto: The Leafs were last on the ice Saturday in Vancouver in a game were they simply were toyed with, again. The Canucks dominated from the opening draw of this game, peppering the Leafs with both shots and scoring chances for sixty minutes.

The Canucks opened the scoring 16:44 in with a Chris Higgins goal, and never looked back. Both Derek Dorsett and Jannik Hansen would score in the middle frame to put the game out of hand, while Shawn Matthias would add an empty netter at the 17:02 mark to put the cherry on top.

Phil Kessel broke the shut-out for Toronto with a penalty shot goal prior to the empty netter, but it was simply a stat padder in Vancouver’s 4-1 victory.

Last Meeting:

The sides met a little over a month ago in Toronto in an embarrassingly one-sided game. The sides played an even and scoreless first period, but Toronto opened the floodgates in the middle frame, completely embarrassing Edmonton.

Richard Panik, Phil Kessel and Morgan Rielly would all score for Toronto in the second, while Mike Santorelli and Peter Holland would add the final daggers in the third period. Luke Gazdic would snap the shut-out with three seconds left in regulation, but honestly it meant nothing as Toronto won 5-1.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: This is going to seem insane, but keep playing your game. If not for terrible defensive mistakes and bad goaltending, Edmonton would likely have won three games on that road trip. The Oiler offense is firing on all cylinders right now, so just keep doing what your doing. The Leafs are just as bad defensively right now.

Toronto: Come out with an early push in this hockey game. Edmonton ALWAYS struggles in the first game back from a long road-trip, in fact it usually takes the Oil the first half of the game to get their feet under them. If the Leafs can push the pace early, they’ll have a chance to win this hockey game.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: F Jordan Eberle has been the third best point-scorer in the NHL since mid-January, which is just amazing. Eberle is firing on all cylinders right now, and is the main reason for Edmonton’s resurgent power-play. I’ll be watching Eberle closely tonight against a weak Toronto team.

Toronto: F Phil Kessel, for all of his warts, is an elite sniper at the NHL level. If you give him time and space, he will make you pay, no debating that. Kessel’s shot is one of a kind, it truly is. Personally, I think the attacks are unfair on him, and I’ll be watching him quite a bit tonight. Against this defense, he could do damage.

Quick Hits:

Edmonton has lost seven games in a row, their third worst losing streak this season. The Maple Leafs have won all three post-2012 lockout meetings between the sides, including a 4-0 win at Rexall Place last October. Oilers D Nikita Nikitin is expected to return Wednesday night against the Blue Jackets, while F Taylor Hall is “ahead of schedule” in his recovery.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Teddy Purcell – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov

Luke Gazdic – Anton Lander – Ryan Hamilton

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Rob Klinkhammer

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schu
ltz

Martin Marincin – Mark Fayne

Andrew Ference – Keith Aulie

Ben Scrivens

Toronto Maple Leafs Lines:

Richard Panik – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel

James Van Riemsdyk – Nazem Kadri – David Booth

Joffrey Lupul – Trevor Smith – Leo Komarov

Joakim Lindstrom – Zach Sill – Brandon Kozun

Jake Gardiner – Dion Phaneuf

Eric Brewer – Morgan Rielly

T.J. Brennan – Andrew MacWilliam

Jonathan Bernier