Oilers Playoff Game Day: Game 2 – @ Anaheim

The Anaheim Ducks are not a fun team to play against. Playing in Anaheim, as our neighbours to the south can attest, is not an easy task. And yet, despite that, the Edmonton Oilers earned themselves a victory in game one of round two on Wednesday night.

It was an impressive outing, one driven by the exceptional performances of Leon Draisaitl, Adam Larsson, and Mark Letestu. It was a game that also set up the Oilers rather nicely for the remainder of the series. Home ice advantage has been stripped from the Ducks, one equation to achieve victory has been developed (something that wasn’t done against the Ducks in round one), and an opportunity to put a significant stranglehold on the series has been presented.

However – and there is always a “however” against a team like the Ducks in the playoffs – three more wins still need to be forged, and it isn’t going to be a rudimentary task.

The Ducks, similar to how the Sharks bit back back in game four of the previous round, will undoubtedly be energized to redeem their loss. They will almost certainly come fighting with even more cheap slashes, hacks, and whacks than were landed in the first game. And there is no question that through all of that, they will test the resolve of this young Oilers team.

"It was great to get that first win, but we know it's just one & it takes four to win a series." @27MilanLucic ahead of tonight's Game 2

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 28, 2017

Tonight, in Anaheim with puck drop set for 8:30 Mountain time, the Edmonton Oilers will get their first taste of what Anaheim looks like when backed into a corner. The question is, will the Oilers respond better than they did against the Sharks in the same situation?

Can’t wait to find out.

Oilers Keys to the Game

• Recognize the Situation: The Oilers cannot fall into the trap that they have, at times, fallen into this year. Take nothing for granted. The Ducks will be doing everything humanly possible to not go down 2-0 in a series that started at home. Knowing this, it will be crucial for the Oilers to not let what happened against the Sharks, happen here. In that game, the Sharks scored 15 seconds in, and it was all downhill from there. Match their emotion, right from the get-go.
• Avoid Retaliation: The Ducks play hockey the same way that the Seattle Seahawks play football: they can’t call us for a foul on every play, can they? No, the refs do not call a penalty on every play, and considering the amount of infractions Anaheim commits, I am sure it is very frustrating for the Oilers. That doesn’t excuse retaliation. No, the refs won’t call all of their dirty tactics, but they will call some. Let them be reckless, because it will lead to…
• Taking Advantage of the Ducks PK: As Wil Fraser pointed out this morning on 1260, the Ducks penalty kill would be bad in lacrosse. They gave up 2 goals on the kill last game. Considering that, as long as the Oilers stay out of the box themselves, they should have ample opportunity to win the special teams battle. In game one, that was all it took to make the difference.

Players to Watch

Edmonton Oilers

• Connor McDavid: Is he fully healthy? Tonight will go a long ways into solving that question.
• Leon Draisaitl: He has been the star of the show over the last 3 games, can he continue to excel at this level?
• Zack Kassian: He let Kesler have it at the end of last game with a pretty vicious cross check. What can we expect out of him tonight?

Anaheim Ducks

• Ryan Getzlaf: He was royally ticked off due to Zack Kassian’s little cross check to close out the evening on Wednesday. With a goal i that game, expect the big man to stay hot.
• Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler: Both players are not 100% and the Oilers made sure to finish all of their checks against the two players. Is it having an effect?
• Ryan Kesler: Keep a pillow near by for punching though. It isn’t a pleasant experience watching this guy play the game of hockey with extremely little integrity, but he will be hard to miss within his role of McDavid’s shadow. How does he fare tonight?

The Expected Lineups

Edmonton Oilers

Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl

Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Drake Caggiula – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian

Benoit Pouliot – David Desharnais – Anton Slepyshev

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell

Darnell Nurse – Matt Benning

Cam Talbot

Anaheim Ducks

Nick Ritchie – Ryan Getzlaf – Patrick Eaves

Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Rickard Rakell – Nate Thompson – Corey Perry

Chris Wagner – Antoine Vermette – Logan Shaw

Cam Fowler – Brandon Montour

Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson

Shea Theodore – Korbinian Holzer

John Gibson

Game Notes

• Kevin Bieksa is out for the Ducks tonight after hurting his knee in the first game. It sounds like Holzer will step in for Bieksa. He played in three games against the Flames, playing 13-17 minutes, and closed the series an even player.

https://twitter.com/AdamCookCTV/status/858022062467813377

• Although, this is out there on Twitter, so it could be Vatanen drawing in:

Talked to Shea Theodore briefly and he sounded as if Vatanen was coming back in.

— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) April 28, 2017

• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins registered an assist on Wednesday, but has yet to score his first playoff goal. He had a pair of shots in the first game, including one that hit two(!) posts.
• 28 minutes in penalties were dished out in the first game. With the emotion that will undoubtedly carry over from the buzzer, I would expect a similar situation tonight (although the referees’ whistles have next to no consistency, so who the heck really knows).
• The goaltending numbers from last game:
  • Cam Talbot, 33 saves, .917 save %, 1 goal scored on Ducks PP
  • John Gibson, 27 saves, .871 save %, 2 goals scored on Oilers PP
• Anton Slepyshev has been definitely more noticeable the last couple of games, drawing praise from his head coach, and the media. He had a couple stellar chances last game, so he will be one to keep an eye on.
• The Ducks really stuck to the matchup game early on in the previous tilt, doing all they could to get Kesler out against McDavid. In reverse, McLellan was doing all he could to keep him away. By the end of the game though, the gamesmanship had cooled down a bit. It will be interesting to see if we get that strict adherence to match-ups again.

Prediction

I really think that the game is going to go to OT tonight. Both of these teams are really evenly matched, and it showed in game one

I predict that we see it continue tonight with some extra hockey. And, because I do not want to send any bad karma the Oilers way, why don’t we say that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scores the game winner.

He’s bound to break out of this goal-scoring slump sometime, right?