The Edmonton Oilers had a lengthy practice on Wednesday afternoon that spanned over an hour in time. This came off the heels of Edmonton’s first win of the season, but it wasn’t all happy thoughts and smiles.
The Oilers played forty poor minutes to start things off, and still gave up the game tying goal in the final minute. It was a huge comeback win, and one that saves the early season, but there is still a lot of work to be done for the Oilers. They still need to work on shots to the net, defensive zone play, and competing for 60 full minutes.
Dallas Eakins reminded them of that with a tough afternoon on the ice, in preparation for tonight’s battle with the Montreal Canadiens, which could be considered another must win for the team before their six game road trip starts Saturday night in Toronto.
The Oilers tested out some lines on Wednesday, some surprising and others not.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was AWESOME on Monday night and played over 28 minutes for the team. He’s their best center by a mile, and it should be no surprise that the Nuge, who looked great in his debut, will center the top line. Taylor Hall, who really came alive in the third period and looked like the dynamic player we expected, will be on his left side while steady Jordan Eberle is on his right side.
The kid line is a dynamic offensive line, and can be one of the best in the game. They have chemistry, love to play together, and have killer skill. This is a no debate top line.
Line two sees David Perron, who was player of the game Monday, skate on the left side while Marc Arcobello centers and Ales Hemsky plays the right side. Hemsky has been awesome this season, while the young Arcobello has hung in there well through three games, creating chances and killing it in the dot.
Line three saw Ryan Smyth return to the normal rotation, skating with Boyd Gordon and Nail Yakupov. Yakupov, while not noticed on the score sheet, has actually done well to this point chances wise. Gordon has been awesome too, and in my mind has exceeded expectations. As for Smyth, if he is motivated and well rested, we could see a decent game for him with lesser minutes.
Line four remains the bruiser line, with Brown and Gazdic on the wings and Will Acton in the middle. They haven’t been very good to this point, but they also haven’t killed the Oilers yet either.
On defense, there were no changes. The Justin Schultz and Andrew Ference pairing is still together, which is no shock, while Jeff Petry skated with Anton Belov yet again. For the most part, they were good on Monday. Nick Schultz and Ladi Smid skated together too according to Bob Stauffer.
In net, Devan Dubnyk will get the start, which is no shock. He’s the starter, he deserves another chance. Like him or not, everyone is pulling for this kid to figure it out tonight.
As for injuries, Jesse Joensuu isn’t skating yet, but is rumored to be close to returning. We’ll see him on the trip. Ditto for Denis Grebeshkov, who has been skating with the team in practice. No word on Ryan Hamilton, who suffered a lower body injury on Monday night.
Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
David Perron – Marc Arcobello – Ales Hemsky
Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Nail Yakupov
Mike Brown – Will Acton – Luke Gazdic
Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz
Anton Belov – Jeff Petry
Ladislav Smid – Nick Schultz
Devan Dubnyk
Jeremy Thompson will be back this afternoon with the official game preview!
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