Oilers Gameday – vs Nashville

The Oilers are back in action tonight, hosting the Nashville Predators for the final time at Rexall Place. This marks the season’s final meeting between the two teams, and the second game of the Oilers last homestand in the House that Wayne Built.

Last Game

Saturday night against Arizona was a real stinker on behalf of the Oilers. Not only were the Coyotes in the second half of a back to back, they also started Mike Smith in goal; Smith hadn’t played in forty games and he (predictably) earned a shutout. It wasn’t the worst game the Oilers have played all year (I think that honour belongs to the 3-0 loss to Toronto earlier in the season), but it was most assuredly not good.

Todd McLellan, in his pregame media time today said the following:

“We’ve proven the formula for failure enough, let’s try something else & try to change that.” McLellan on rebounding from Saturday’s loss

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 14, 2016

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

I like the sentiment here. He’s not coming right out and saying it was bad, but he’s not shying away from the discussion either. There are many things that need to improve, and while it’s too late to salvage this season, it’d sure be nice if they could put together a nice little run over these final 11 games, and maybe play spoiler a bit. (Wishful thinking, I know.)

Keys to the Game

Edmonton (In order of probability)

1. Keep the Preds out of the penalty box. The PK isn’t great, but the PP is atrocious.
2. Get the puck to whoever isn’t gripping his stick so tight he fans on the shot.
3. Don’t screen poor LB. Dude needs a win, for sure.
4. Make it through tonight without losing another player to injury.

Nashville

1. Capitalize on the injuries the Oilers already have, and cause more.
2. Get lots of penalties and then score on a short-handed breakaway.
3. Get bodies in front of the Oilers net. Or behind it, because apparently the Oilers can get scored on from there too.

Players to Watch

Taylor Hall, obviously. He’s been struggling a bit of late, and it’d be real nice to see him break this one wide open. Last game, against Arizona, he had a beauty chance on a breakaway but couldn’t keep a handle on the puck. It’s too bad, too, because I’d really like people to tweet at me when he scores. (On that note, someone please tweet at me if he scores tonight; I can’t watch the game)

I’m not sure what else to say, because looks like the lines (to start) anyway are going to be a bit of “huh?” combined with a lot of “Why does Todd McLellan hate Yakupov so much?”

Projected Lineups

Edmonton

This morning on Twitter, I said that I should have just put lineups in the blender and see what would happen – it looks like that’s what McLellan did, so I drew names out of a hat. (I drew forwards and d-men separately, though in hindsight it’d be better if I’d not worried about position. I also placed names in the order they were drawn, no switches.)

Nashville

Calle Jarnkrok – Ryan Johansen – James Neal

Filip Forsberg – Mike Ribeiro – Craig Smith

Miikka Salomaki – Mike Fisher – Viktor Arvidsson

Colin Wilson – Colton Sissons – Austin Watson

Roman Josi – Shea Weber

Mattias Ekholm – Ryan Ellis

Anthony Bitetto – Barret Jackman

Pekka Rinne

Final Thoughts

Eleven games left.

After a season that started with so much promise, in our minds if not on the scoreboard, we find ourselves in a familiar place – last (in the West – suck it Toronto).

I’ve been saying all year that we need patience, that it will come. And it will – I just don’t know when.

I want to believe that the Oilers, once healthy and with a D-corps that isn’t held together with duct tape and wishes, can become a legitimate contender. This was never going to be the season for that, but I know they’re better than they’ve been in the past. It might not feel like it (29th place), but they are. As it stands, they’ve surpassed last year’s win total already, with 11 more to play, and I’m pretty sure that even the Oilers can eke out 3 wins in 11 games to hit the 30-win mark for what will be the second time in Taylor Hall’s career as an Oiler.

There’s a parallel between the Oilers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. After making the playoffs for 11 straight years, the bottom fell out of the team depth chart and the Pens missed the playoffs in 2001-02 and didn’t make it back in until 2006-07. (Of course the lockout was in the middle of that playoff drought, but so was the Sidney Crosby draft, which the Penguins were fortunate enough to win. In Sid’s first year, the penguins finished the season in 29th place (22-46-14), missed the playoffs, and seemed destined to repeat the previous years’ failures. But the attraction of playing with Crosby was a significant reason why the Pens were able to make some personnel changes in the summer of 2006, and the following season Pittsburgh was a playoff team. They exited in the first round, after losing to Ottawa during the Sens’ magical Cup run, but were not deterred. In June 2008, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost the Stanley Cup to the Detroit Red Wings, and the following year took that Cup back for the first time since 1992. Sidney Crosby was 22 years old.

I’m not saying that the Oilers will be able to match that success in the exact same time frame, but I can’t shake the feeling that things are close. After the McDavid Draft Lottery win, I predicted that instead of 2026-27, the Oilers would be hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2020. I’m sticking with that.