James Neal dropped the gloves with Matthew Tkachuk, while Darnell Nurse danced with Milan Lucic. Chris Tanev crushed Kyle Turris, and Kailer Yamamoto illegally took down Rasmus Andersson and earned a fine.
The Battle of Alberta was a real battle nine days ago when the Edmonton Oilers edged the Calgary Flames 3-2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton. It was the Oilers third straight win against the Flames, and snapped a nasty three-game losing streak.
Tonight, the sides will meet again in Calgary. The expectation, with a new coach behind the Calgary bench, is that things will once again be physical and intense.
The Oilers are prepared for that reality, and are ready to make chances to their lineup in anticipation of a tough, physical battle.
“You look at your lineup every game going in. There are matchups, there are some tactical things that you look at with your lineup,” Dave Tippett said to reporters on Sunday when asked if he would adjust his roster when facing a more physical team.
“How the other team plays, what different structure to their game, who might excel and different components. That’s no different than any other year. The one difference this year being you might have a few more options to pick at. That being said, you still have the 23-man roster, also. You might have a guy you might like to put in and the roster dictates it and might not allow you to do that. Every game is a new challenge. You put players in that you think you might be successful within that game.”
One roster change that could happen, and really should happen, is James Neal coming back into the lineup. Neal was scratched on Saturday night, but is clearly a better option than Devin Shore. Forward Dominik Kahun could also return to the lineup in place of defensive specialist Patrick Russell.
While the physical matchup is certainly interesting, there is another matchup within the game that will catch eyes tonight. For the first time since the 2016-17 season, Tippett will coach against two-time Stanley Cup Champion Darryl Sutter. Sutter is 2-0-0 since taking over behind the bench last Thursday night.
“I’ve known Darryl and I’ve coached against him for a long time,” Tippett said. “He’s a veteran coach with a great track record. Our team has to prepare to do what we have to do. No different than any other game. There’s a challenge every time you go into a game, you got to figure out how to win. I’m sure Darryl is thinking the same thing.”
The Oilers will need to figure out a way to win after coming up short on Saturday night in Vancouver.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
