Oilers vs Avalanche: Part Two

The Oilers take on the Colorado Avalanche tonight for the second time in three days, this time on home ice at Rogers Place.

I’ll be blunt, the first game was ugly. For the most part it was some pretty bad hockey by both sides. Not to brag or anything, but I watched the WHOLE THING. I didn’t turn off the TV once. I’m strangely proud of that!

Cam Talbot let in four goals on 13 shots, but I have trouble blaming him considering how reliable he’s been for this team all season. Every player has a rough stretch here and there, Cam is no exception.

It’s not like Dadbot had much help from his team either. The Klefbom/Larsson pairing had a particularly bumpy game, getting burned by the MacKinnon/Rantanen connection twice due to some poor coverage and miscommunication.

Letting in four goals against the Avalanche, a team that will struggle to reach 50 points on the season, should be embarrassing. The Oilers managed to rally and score five straight in the third period, including two empty netters. The dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl both chipped in with multi-point nights, as did Eberle, Caggiula, Sekera and the Nuge.

Final score 7-4 Edmonton. It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win.

Brossoit starts vs Colorado.

— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) March 25, 2017

Projected Lineups

Edmonton

Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl

Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Benoit Pouliot – David Desharnais – Zack Kassian

Drake Caggiula – Mark Letestu – Jujhar Khaira

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell

Darnell Nurse – Matt Benning

Starting Goalie: Laurent Brossoit

Colorado

Gabriel Landeskog – Matt Duchene – Matt Nieto

Sven Andrighetto – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Joe Colborne – J.T. Compher – Rene Bourque

John Mitchell – Carl Soderberg – Blake Comeau

Mark Barberio – Erik Johnson

Fedor Tyutin – Tyson Barrie

Francois Beauchemin – Anton Lindholm

Starting Goalie: Calvin Pickard

Players to Watch

Laurent Brossoit. The rookie goaltender has only had a handful of starts with the big club this year, so tonight seems as good a chance as any to give Talbot a bit of a rest and let the kid have the net. This game should be an easy one in theory based off of the competition, but we’ll see what happens in actuality. Brossoit played well in relief on Thursday, stopping all six of the shots he faced in the third period. I expect a strong outing from him.

Adam Larsson. The Swedish defender has had a couple of brain farts over the past few games, so hopefully he can iron it out and get back to where he was beforehand. He’s the top right handed D on the team, so the onus is on him to lock it down and play the reliable, physical game that we’ve seen from him often over the course of the season.

Connor McDavid. Need I say more?

The Stretch

The Oilers are comfortably in the playoffs and looking to clinch soon, but they shouldn’t settle for just that. Looking at the standings, the Oilers have the opportunity to make a real push for the Pacific division. Tied with Anaheim and only two points back of San Jose, a win tonight would ensure that Edmonton stays firmly in the race for top seed in the Pacific. (Click image to enlarge).

Closing Thoughts

It looks like MacLellan has put Draisaitl back on Connor’s wing after splitting the two up at times on Thursday. I’m a little disappointed by this, as I believe it is imperative to get Leon producing on his own line away from Connor if the Oilers want to have any playoff success this year. I’m all for loading up the top line occasionally when the situation calls for it, but I also like the idea of spreading out the 5 on 5 offence.

Tonight should bring a win for the Oilers. If it doesn’t, that’ll count as a wasted two points in my book.

Thanks for reading!

You can find me on Twitter @SullivanJLarson