The Oilers are playing host to the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, in what will inevitably be a disappointment for one of the teams. Last time they met, the Oilers gave Garret Sparks his first NHL win (and shutout), dropping a 3-0 decision after an abysmal effort. Tonight, the Oilers are coming off three lacklustre efforts in a row, and Toronto is probably due for some kind of good luck… I’ll let you fill in the blanks.
Last Games
Edmonton
The Oilers lost 2-1 in New Jersey on Tuesday night. I didn’t watch anything except the last 6 minutes and it was not good. A quick search on the twitter machine tells me that the Oilers had approximately 7 shots on goal all game, which is not enough. (A second look tells me it was actually 21, but still…not enough.)
Toronto
The Leafs lost 4-3 to the Flames, solidifying their place at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Before that game, they traded away Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa, in exchange for a bunch of guys not named Dion Phaneuf (and managed to unload all of his salary as well. That’s unbelievable.)
Keys to the Game
Edmonton
I…. don’t know. I don’t have a solution to the problem the Oilers have.
Instead, they should have to listen to this over and over and over, and stop sucking.
Also Toronto is icing a lineup that might not even win a game in the AHL, so this *should* be a win. (Of course, now that I’ve said it, it won’t be. My bad.)
Toronto
Apparently Kadri is out, so that’s something. My Twitter feed consists of a number of Toronto-based writers and they’re all sort of surprised that Kadri was scratched with a “lower body injury” despite getting his bell rung by Mark Giordano in Calgary the other day.
I’m pretty sure that Toronto just needs to not lose, because the city and the fanbase are close to imploding. (I mean, I kind of love how all this is working out, because I hate the Leafs, but I can imagine that being a fan must be hard.
Leafs dressing their ’27 Yankees lineup tonight. Good look. Excited.
— Gordon Kilimanjaro (@SuicidePass) February 11, 2016
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Players to Watch
Edmonton
Taylor Hall? Maybe? He’s been in a bit of a slump and is making mistakes all over the place, and I just want him to have a good game and score a million points. He shaved his beard off (oh! the horror!) so maybe the aerodynamics will change his luck?
Connor is back on home ice, and the last time he was here he scored a hell of a goal. Let’s hope he can replicate that.
Toronto
Watch Martin Marincin and remember the days that he was an Oiler and try not to cry (you hear that, Arch?).
Marcobello is playing on the Leafs second line tonight, and he lit it up something fierce for the Oilers while he was here. (Right? That’s why we miss him so much, right?)
I’d tell you to watch some of the other guys, but I don’t know who anyone is beyond NHL All-Star Leo Komarov.
Toronto’s tank game is strong.
Projected Lineups
Edmonton
Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell
Benoit Pouliot – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Iiro Pakarinen – Mark letestu – Nail yakupov
Zack Kassian – Matt Hendricks – Lauri Korpikoski
Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Darnell Nurse – Justin Schultz
Brandon Davidson – Eric Gryba
Cam Tal-Bot
Toronto
(based on their lines at morning practice and the internet getting angry about it)
Michael Grabner – Peter Holland – Leo Komarov
Colin Greening – Mark Arcobello – P.A. Parenteau
Daniel Winnik – Nick Spaling – Josh Leivo
Rich Clune – Byron Froese – Brad Boyes
Matt Hunwick – Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner – Roman Polak
Martin Marincin – Frank Corrado
Jonathan Bernier
Final Thoughts
This team, y’all. This team.
One of these days they’ll build a win streak and then make the playoffs and then win the Stanley Cup and we’ll all look back at these dark times and laugh at how bad the team was.
But in the here and now, it seems like the light at the end of the tunnel (which at one point in the season was actually leading us out of the darkness) has reconstituted itself into an oncoming train and for whatever reason I can’t seem to get out of the way.
I’m going to watch the game tonight, and probably tweet about it, and I won’t regret doing that, but just once I’d like to come away from watching with the feeling that the team IS in fact better. And I’d love for them to win a game. Or two. Or seven.
It can’t be that hard. Can it?
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