Oilers Gameday – Vs. Stars

The Oilers conclude their five game homestand tonight and get back on the ice as they battle the Dallas Stars in the third and final meeting between the sides this season. This will be the second meeting between the teams at Rexall Place, who met in Edmonton just before Christmas. Tonight, the Oilers will celebrate fan appreciation night.

The Oilers will be without F’s Matt Hendricks and Boyd Gordon, while Matt Fraser is questionable. Both defenders Andrew Ference and Mark Fayne are expected to miss this game tonight. Meanwhile, the Stars will be without F Valeri Nichushkin tonight, who has been out long-term, as well as D Trevor Daley.

Richard Bachman starts for Edmonton, while Kari Lehtonen starts for Dallas.

Last Games:

Edmonton: The Oilers last took to the ice on Wednesday night to battle the Colorado Avalanche at Rexall Place. Edmonton got off to a dominating start, scoring three goals in the first 9:36 of the first period compliments of Martin Marincin, Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall.

The Avs quickly closed the gap in terms of play however, dominating the second period with a 19-13 shot advantage. Colorado used that advantage to cut into the lead, getting two goals in the frame. Jarome Iginla scored with a bomb on the power-play at the 5:22 mark, while Alex Tanguay potted home a rebound at the 10:31 mark.

The third period saw Edmonton push back a bit, but make a crucial mistake. Justin Schultz made a costly turn-over which Tanguay took to feed Ryan O’Reilly for the tying goal at the 4:54 mark. Edmonton would retake the lead with a Derek Roy power-play goal off of a rebound moments later, while Ben Scrivens would stand tall to cement Edmonton’s 4-3 victory.

Dallas: The Stars last took the ice on Wednesday night as well, as the visited the Calgary Flames in a battle of two teams looking at that final playoff spot out west. The first period was all Dallas, as the Stars out-shot Calgary 13-6, but Kari Ramo would stop all 13 shots to keep things scoreless after twenty minutes.

Dallas would break the ice eventually, with eventually being the 47 second mark of the middle frame as Ales Hemsky ripped a shot home. Jamie Benn would make it a two goal game with a backdoor goal at the 10:47 mark, but the Flames quickly woke up. Both Johnny Gaudreau and Deryk Engelland would score to tie things within a minute and a half stretch.

Hemsky and Engelland would each add their second goals of the game following the spurt, setting us up for an overtime frame that ended up solving nothing. The sides went to a shoot-out, where Tyler Seguin scored the lone goal to give Dallas a season-saving 4-3 victory.

Last Meeting:

The sides last met at Rexall Place in a crazy affair back in late December. The Oilers opened the scoring with a Taylor Hall goal just 2:58 into the game, but Erik Cole and Shawn Horcoff would both get on the board for Dallas to give the Stars a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes.

Edmonton stormed back in the middle frame, opening the flood gates in the first 14 minutes. Teddy Purcell would tie the game before Mark Arcobello scored a pair of goals to give Edmonton a two goal lead. Taylor Hall would add his second of the night before Jamie Benn erased that with a marker in the final minute.

Even though Edmonton was up a pair, the game simply was not over. Tyler Seguin would score a pair of goals in the third period to send us to overtime, which solved nothing. The shoot-out would prove interesting, as each side scored once in the first three shooters and also traded goals in the sixth round. Shawn Horcoff finally scored in the eighth round to give Dallas the crazy 6-5 win.

Keys To The Game:

Edmonton: A total team effort defensively will be needed by the Oilers tonight. Dallas has had their way with the Oilers when it comes to scoring the last few seasons, and Edmonton needs to address that. A complete team effort defensively tonight will go a long way to finally shutting down Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn.

Dallas: Attacking the middle will be huge tonight for the Stars. Dallas has had tons of success against Edmonton, and a major reason for that is their ability to exploit the Oilers weak defensive unit. If the Stars can find those passing lanes tonight, they’ll light up the scoresheet.

Players To Watch:

Edmonton: D Brandon Davidson was recalled on Thursday to fill in for injured D Mark Fayne. Davidson is playing for a contract and a spot on next year’s team, and fits the role as a tough, physical, stay-at-home defender. I’ll be watching him tonight to see how he fills in the Mark Fayne role on defense. He looked good in December.

Dallas: F Tyler Seguin has flat out owned Edmonton in recent memory. Every time these two teams meet, Seguin usually finds a way to get involved. This guy has elite talent, and usually prays on teams like Edmonton that have weak defenses. I’ll be watching him closely again tonight.

Quick Hits:

The Oilers have lost four players due to injury in their last two games, they are Matt Hendricks, Boyd Gordon, Mark Fayne and Andrew Ference. The Oil now have points in five of their last six games, coming in with a 3-1-2 record. F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had his multi-game point streak snapped Wednesday, but Jordan Eberle got on his horse with a goal. Edmonton’s last win against Dallas was on December 1st, 2013, a 3-2 shoot-out victory in Dallas. Jamie Benn leads the Stars in scoring with 71 points in 74 games.

The Lines:

Edmonton Oilers Lines:

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Teddy Purcell – Derek Roy – Nail Yakupov

Taylor Hall – Anton Lander – Andrew Miller

Luke Gazdic – Rob Klinkhammer – Matt Fraser

Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz

Martin Marincin – Nikita Nikitin

Keith Aulie – Brandon Davidson

Richard Bachman

Dallas Stars Lines:

Jamie Benn – Cody Eakin – Tyler Seguin

Patrick Eaves – Jason Spezza – Ales Hemsky

Antoine Roussel – Vernon Fiddler – Colton Sceviour

Curtis McKenzie – Shawn Horcoff – Brett Ritchie

Jyrki Jokipakka – Alex Goligoski

Patrik Nemeth – John Klingberg

Jordie Benn – Jason Demers

Kari Lehtonen