Oilers Gameday – Vs. Sharks

The Oilers conclude a small two game home stand tonight as they host the San Jose Sharks for the first meeting of the season between the two teams. The Oilers are in a funk never before seen in Edmonton, and have gone three straight home games without scoring a goal. The team has 13 wins in their last 46 home contests, and have only four wins all season in 20 games. Only one of those wins has come in Edmonton.

The Oilers sent down forward Mark Arcobello earlier this evening and recalled defender Oscar Klefbom, who is not expected to make it to Rexall in time for the game according to reports. Oilers captain Andrew Ference did not skate this morning and rumor is he will not be in the lineup tonight. Luke Gazdic, who was injured last Saturday, could return, while Will Acton draws back in to replace Arcobello.

San Jose goalie Alex Stalock is expected to make his third NHL start tonight, all of which have come on the road. He’s 2-0 in his career, and has the rare feat of winning his first two starts in the NHL while on the road.

The Sharks are missing forwards Raffi Torres (knee), Brent Burns and Adam Burish from their lineup. Former Oiler Mike Brown won’t play against his former club tonight.

Last Game:

Edmonton: The Oilers set a new franchise low on Wednesday night, falling 3-0 to the Dallas Stars. It was the third straight home game that the Oilers had been blanked, which is a franchise record. Devan Dubnyk was solid, but was out-dueled in the end by Kari Lehtonen.

Dubnyk stopped all 11 Stars shots in the first, while Lehtonen made some key saves on Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle to keep the score tied after one. Rich Peverley scored 10:35 into the second period on a rebound of his own shot, an ugly defensive break down by defender Jeff Petry leading to the second chance.

In the third period, Dubnyk stood tall again, and even stopped a Dallas penalty shot attempt, but it wasn’t enough. Edmonton failed to generate any pressure until the final few minutes, and then failed to find a way to beat Lehtonen. Tyler Seguin and Antoine Russel would score empty net goals in the final minute to seal the two points for Dallas.

San Jose: The Sharks played last night in Vancouver, a game they won 2-1 in overtime. The first period was scoreless between the teams, as Antti Niemi and Roberto Luongo stood tall for their teams. In the second, Canuck defender Kevin Bieksa fired home a PP goal at 13:40, while Luongo again shut the door.

In the 3rd, the Sharks drew even late, with just 1:05 to play in the game. Rookie sensation Tomas Hertl put home a goal to force overtime, where Dan Boyle would blast home the winner on the power-play.

The win was the Sharks second in a row, which comes on the heels of a five game losing skid for the club.

Last Meeting:

The Oilers and Sharks met up three times last year, with the Sharks winning all three meetings. Two of those games however were very close, and the last meeting was no exception to that. The sides met at Rexall Place on March 20th in a game which was actually pretty important playoff wise at the time.

The Oilers struck early, 10:47 in exactly, with a Sam Gagner PPG. Logan Couture would score less than four minutes later to tie things up, and outside of their lone blunders Devan Dubnyk and Antti Niemi were pretty good.

In the second, Shawn Horcoff scored 12:07 in as Nick Schultz fed him a beautiful pass in front of the net. Dubnyk was perfect in the period, and the Oilers led heading to the final frame.

Ryan Jones scored early in the third to give the Oilers a 3-1, but it was the last goal the Oil would score on the night. Logan Couture would score a PP marker, and Tommy Wingles would add a goal three minutes later, both rather weak, to tie the game.

Dan Boyle would score in the shoot-out to give the Sharks the 4-3 comeback win.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: Forward Sam Gagner has come under pressure recently due to his slow start and poor defensive play. Gagner has been recovering from a jaw injury and has been trying to get up to speed so far this year, but one has to believe the rust shedding period is over. Gagner needs to turn his game around, and tonight should be a wake-up call for him in a big game.

Gagner wants to be one of the leaders on this team, and the best thing would be to step up and break out of a funk in a major time of need for his team.

San Jose: Oilers fans get a look at rookie sensation Tomas Hertl for the first time tonight. Hertl set the hockey world a flame at the start of the season with his very hot start and his four goal game against the Rangers were he scored a high-light reel marker. He’s been awesome so far this season, scoring 11 goals in just 19 games. Hertl is the next super-star in San Jose and will be well worth watching.

Lineups:

Expected Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Nail Yakupov – Sam Gagner – Ales Hemsky

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – David Perron

Jesse Joensuu – Will Acton – Luke Gazdic

Andrew Ference (Strong Chance he doesn’t play) – Jeff Petry

Anton Belov – Philip Larsen

Nick Schultz – Corey Potter

Devan Dubnyk

Expected San Jose Sharks Lines:

Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Tyler Kennedy

Tomas Hertl – Joe Thornton – Tommy Wingles

Matt Nieto – Joe Pavelski – Martin Havlat

John McCarthy – Andrew Desjardins – James Sheppard

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Dan Boyle

Brad Stuart – Justin Braun

Scott Hannan – Jason Demers

Alex Stalock

QUICK NOTE: The Oilers recalled Oscar Klefbom earlier this evening but he won’t make it tonight and will join the team in Calgary tomorrow. Andrew Ference missed the skate this morning and there is a chance he is out tonight and the Oilers go with five defenders. We’ll have to see.