Edmonton Oilers Look to Pounce the Nashville Predators
Today is October 10th, 2015. It is also the first edition of Hockey Night in Canada. I don’t know about the rest of the Canadian hockey world, but today is a day that the majority of us look forward to. In today’s edition of HNIC we will see the Edmonton Oilers take on the Nashville Predators in game number two of the young 2015/2016 NHL season. I am looking forward to bringing you the pre-game report, projected line-ups and my take on the keys to the game for our Oilers.
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The Oilers are looking to bounce back from a fairly decent performance against the St. Louis Blues that saw the Oil fall 3-1 to the home team. There are many good things we can take to Nashville from the loss in Missouri. Turnovers used to eat the Oilers alive from the inside out causing many games to end up in the loss column, same with bad rebound control, and defenseman being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What I saw in St Louis was not a team of desperation, it wasn’t a team that has been struggling for so long, nor was it the team that showed little to no compassion for the game.
What I saw was a team with a new found lease on life, if it wasn’t for turnovers or the odd mix-up with positioning, I personally think the Oilers would have walked away winners on Thursday. There was compassion on the ice again, teammates were sticking up for each other, and most importantly: the team was finally listening to their coach.
The Markoff’s Keys to the Game
The keys to the game tonight should be pretty straight forward for most fans, although I will be discussing what my ideas would be in order for the Oilers to be successful tonight.
- Get shots on net: The Oilers were sub-par in this aspect against the Blues as they could only manage 24 shots on goal. If the Oilers want to find success tonight against a really good defense and goaltender they’ll need to shoot the puck more. Getting more rebounds against Pekka Rinne will be the key to solving him as he can be a tough goaltender to play against.
- Know your destination: Arrant passing almost has Oilers written all over it, for all the wrong reasons. One key for a successful game will be for the Oilers to plan out their passes accordingly and to stop throwing the puck into the middle of the ice(whether it be in their zone, Nashvilles’ zone, or the neutral zone).
- Positioning: Although the team has become better in this regard, they still have a lost of rust to brush off. The only way Edmonton will be successful is if they position themselves exactly where they are meant to be.
Projected Lines
Edmonton Oilers:
Forwards:
Defense:
Nashville Predators:
Forwards:
Forsberg–Ribeiro–Neal
Wilson–Fisher–Smith
Arvidson–Hodgson–Jarnkrok
Nystrom–Gaustad–Bourque
Defense:
Josi–Weber
Ekholm–Ellis
Jackman–Jones
Between Two Posts
Cam Talbot will start again between the pipes for the Oilers, and he will face off against Preds’ monster Pekka Rinne.
Final Thoughts:
Watch out! Tonight there could be multiple line combinations as in practice it appeared as though McLellan was not happy with how the top two lines performed during their first game. I, like so many others, are absolutely ecstatic to see what these guys can do with all of their talent. It may just be my ever lasting love for this hockey franchise but I expect we will see a completely different Oilers team hit the ice tonight. In addition, watch for the Oilers cycle game along the boards to provide multiple opportunities for our Copper n’ Blue.