Oilers Gameday – Vs. Penguins

The Oilers return to the ice tonight for the swing game, and final game, of their four game homestand. A win tonight puts Edmonton at 3-1, a loss puts them at 2-2 heading back out onto the road. As mentioned, this is the final game of Edmonton’s four game homestand while Pittsburgh is in game two of a western road trip.

The Oilers will be without F Connor McDavid, F Rob Klinkhammer and D Justin Schultz tonight, while D Andrew Ference and D Mark Fayne are expected to be healthy scratches. The Penguins will be without F Bryan Rust, who is currently on the IR.

Anders Nilsson starts for Edmonton while Jeff Zatkoff gets the net for the Penguins.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers dominated the Flyers on Tuesday night at Rexall. Edmonton controlled the entire first period but only got one goal as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins cashed in on the power-play in the final minute.

The Flyers scored a pair in the middle frame compliments of Scott Laughton and Ryan White, but after that it was all Edmonton. Matt Hendricks tied the game 6:13 into the third, while Taylor Hall gave the Oil a lead at 7:40. RNH would add his second into the empty net to seal Edmonton’s 4-2 victory.

Pittsburgh: The Penguins were in Vancouver on Wednesday night to battle the Canucks. The sides played an even first forty minutes, but Pittsburgh got the lone goal compliments David Perron at the 4:53 mark of the first.

Sidney Crosby and Eric Fehr each scored in the third period, while Daniel Sedin and Jannik Hansen got the Canucks within one with two late goals. Marc-Andre Fleury shut the door however, and Pittsburgh prevailed 3-2.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Penguins played a crazy game last March in Pittsburgh. The Penguins got three first period goals as Brandon Sutter scored a pair and David Perron got one. Sidney Crosby scored just 1:01 into the middle frame to give the Pens a 4-0 lead, but things changed quick.

The Oilers got four straight goals, one each from Anton Lander, Jordan Eberle, Benoit Pouliot and Derek Roy to tie things before Steve Downie and Patric Hornqvist each scored to give the Pens a 6-4 victory.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Stay true to the system tonight. Without Connor McDavid, the Oilers will need to play within their system and play a strong and structured game tonight. If they can do that, they should be able to generate chances against a Penguins team with an average defense.

Pittsburgh: Limiting shots against will be huge tonight. The Penguins surrendered almost 50 shots against the Sabres over a week ago and have had a hard time suppressing them all year long. If they can limit Edmonton, then they’ll be in a good spot tonight.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Jordan Eberle makes his highly anticipated return to the Edmonton lineup tonight. Eberle was having a solid training camp before his injury, and will be thrust into a major role now with McDavid injured. I’ll be interested to see how Eberle handles his return.

Pittsburgh: Ex-Oiler David Perron has had success against his former team in the three meetings since. Perron has struggled so far this season, but a game against a team he owns and a team with a weak defense might be a recipe for success.

Quick Hits:

Oilers F Connor McDavid will be out for at least 7-8 weeks with a broken left collarbone. Jordan Eberle is making his season debut after getting injured back on September 29th in a pre-season tilt. This is the first of two meetings between the Oilers and Penguins this season. They’ll meet again in Pittsburgh later this month.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Jordan Eberle

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Nail Yakupov

Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Teddy Purcell

Iiro Pakarinen – Andrew Miller – Anton Lander

Darnell Nurse – Andrej Sekera

Oscar Klefbom – Brandon Davidson

Griffin Reinhart – Eric Gryba

Anders Nilsson

Pittsburgh Penguins Lines:

Pascal Dupuis – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist

David Perron – Evgeni Malkin – Phil Kessel

Chris Kunitz – Nick Bonino – Beau Bennett

Sergei Plotnikov – Matt Cullen – Eric Fehr

Ian Cole – Kris Letang

Olli Maata – Rob Scuderi

Brian Dumoulin – Ben Lovejoy

Jeff Zatkoff