Oilers Gameday – vs. Red Wings

The Oilers have a chance to go streaking!!! After renewing hope with wins over the Flames and Canucks, the Oilers will be welcoming the Detroit Red Wings to Rexall Place.

All eyes will be on Connor McDavid as he attempts to keep his own personal point streak going against the now Jeff Bashill-led Red Wings club.

The Oilers placed Matt Hendricks on the IR and recalled Andrew Miller. Miller has a surprising point-per-game percentage by scoring 6 points in 9 games late last season. He’ll play in the top-six with Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Cam Talbot will face off against Petr Mrazek in goal.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers are flying high after their thrilling 2-1 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday Night.

The Oilers got on the board very early on the power play, with Connor McDavid making a dazzling play off the boards to himself to get around the Canuck’s defender before firing a swift pass over to Nail Yakupov. Yakupov made no mistake with his one-timer and the Oilers found themselves with a lead 3:23 into the 1st period.

The Canucks kept pushing and finally got rewarded with a floater from the point credited to Matt Bartkowski for his (surprisingly) first NHL goal in the regular season at 15:43 of the first period.

The Canucks outshot the Oilers 13-5 in the first frame, but due to solid net minding from Anders Nilsson, the clubs were even at one.

The second period saw the Oilers and Canucks trading chances the entire way through, but nobody could solve Anders Nilsson and Ryan Miller, and the teams stayed deadlocked after 40 minutes.

The third period was more of the same, however with one glowing highlight. The Sedin sisters twins worked the Oiler’s defenders on the rush leading to Daniel missing a wide open net, therefore keeping the game tied and set for a wild 3-on-3 overtime, the first for the Edmonton Oilers.

In overtime, Andrej Sekera muscled the puck away from the Canucks leading to a 2-on-1 with Daniel Sedin left defending due to the unusual structure of the new overtime format. Sekera feathered a pass to Lauri Korpikoski who went five-hole to give the Oiler’s their second straight win, and Ryan Miller his first ever loss against the Edmonton Oilers.

Detroit: The Red Wings are coming off a loss against the hottest team in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens absolutely manhandled the Wings, outshooting them 41-22, 20-5 in the final frame, en route to a 4-1 win.

The Wings got on the board first with 19-year-old Dylan Larkin going top shelf on Carey Price at 4:47 of the second period. The Habs answered with a controversial goal from Brendan Gallagher, crashing the net and arguably interfering and possibly kicking the puck past a helpless Petr Mrazek. Jeff Blashill used his coaches challenge to no avail and the goal stood up.

The third and final period was all Habs, as they threw everything at the net and dominated the play. If it weren’t for the tremendous play from Petr Mrazek, the score could have been even more inflated.

Former Oiler Jeff Petry scored his first of the season on the power play which turned out to be the game winner at 6:32 of the period. A Mike Green turnover to Brendan Gallgher led to a goal from the red-hot Tomas Plekanec at 17:56 to effectively end any chance of a comeback.

Brian Flynn scored an empty-netter with one second remaining on the clock to finish off the scoring. The loss brought the Wings’ record to 3-2-0.

Last Meeting:

This is the first match-up between the Oilers and Red Wings.

Last season, the Red Wings took both games against the Edmonton Oilers, winning 4-2 in January and 5-2 in March.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: Keep on keeping on. The Oilers have finally gotten a taste of winning after starting 0-4. The team has been playing consistent, and the areas that needed to improve (power-play, defensive coverage) have indeed gotten better. If the Oilers want to have success, they need to bring that consistency.

Detroit: Rebound. The Red Wings played their worst game of the season, and needed to rely on Petr Mrazek. Mrazek is proving the be the number one guy, but the Red Wings need to bring a better game to the table if they want to get back in the win column.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Andrew Miller. Miller is a proven AHL scorer who showed last season that he can produce in the big leagues. He’ll be playing with two of the big names in Edmonton on the top line, and he may be able to parlay a few performances into a regular NHL spot.

Detroit: Dylan Larkin. It feels surreal to say the Red Wings are employing a teenager in the NHL, but Dylan Larkin has done it, and done it well. It’s always exciting to see young talent that isn’t on your team, and Larkin will be a fun one to watch. He’s playing with Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader.

Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Andrew Miller
Benoit Pouliot – Connor McDavid – Nail Yakupov
Lauri Korpikoski – Anton Lander – Teddy Purcell
Rob Klinkhammer – Mark Letestu – Anton Slepyshev

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz
Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Andrew Ference – Eric Gryba

Cam Talbot

Detroit Red Wings:

Dylan Larkin – Henrik Zetterberg – Justin Abdelkader
Tomas Tatar – Riley Sheahan – Gustav Nyquist
Darren Helm – Brad Richards – Teemu Pulkkinen
Drew Miller – Luke Glendening – Landon Ferraro

Niklas Kronwall – Jonathan Ericsson
Danny DeKeyser – Mike Green
Kyle Quincey – Jakub Kindl

Petr Mrazek