Edmonton Oilers Look to Glide Past Leafs

Tonight should be a fantastic night for hockey(5:30p.m. M.S.T start time), the Edmonton Oilers will be in Toronto to play the Leafs as it’ll be a battle from the basement. Both of these clubs have gone through very tough times as franchises and are both attempting to rebound from atrocious seasons of the past. The Oilers however are coming into tonight after winning a fairly exciting shoot-out win against Pittsburgh, not only was that game exciting, but it was a much needed win for our blue and orange. I have a strong feeling that we will be challenging the Leafs all night tonight. In todays edition of “OilonWhyte” I will be bringing you “Markoffs’ Keys to the Game“, a couple highlights from the teams previous game, projected line combinations, along with starting goalies and my personal prediction for the end result of the game tonight.

Nov 28, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Matt Hendricks (23) scores against Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Jeff Zatkoff (37) in the shootout at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Oilers won 3-2 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Once again, the young call-up from Cologne, Germany had at least one point. Leon Draisatl scored 2:02 into the first period to give his Oilers a 1-0 lead early on into the game against Pittsburgh. I don’t want to say it too early, but this kid is the real deal and he will be a force to be reckoned with in the NHL for many years to come. I would be enthralled to see him and Hall light up the lamp again tonight. Lauri Korpikoski also added a regulation goal, but to no avail the Penguins ended up tying the game up and it eventually went into a shoot-out where Matt Hendricks and Jordan Eberle each potted a “goal”. Those points were not exactly what excited me the most, how about Anders Nilsson? I had my doubts about him coming into this season but once again I have been proven wrong. He has played extremely well, not to mention he has out-played the man Peter Chiarelli brought in to be the presumed number one guy. There is hope in my heart that this isn’t a fluke, Anders Nilsson is lights out when it matters the most, and that’s something we have needed as a team for so long. He had a strong showing Saturday night stopping 39 of 41 shots, including a flurry of saves in overtime. Side note, Jujhar Khaira made his NHL debut on Saturday, he did however go pointless.

Nov 28, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Edmonton Oilers goalie Anders Nilsson (39) makes a save against Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) during the second period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Oilers won 3-2 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Markoffs’ Keys to the Game

Puck Movement; If the Oilers want to continually play with confidence, and win, they need to keep the puck moving between them. They need to equalize passing and shooting so their chances of succeeding are higher
Defense; This has always been one of my keys, and it hasn’t changed. In order for these guys to find success, they need to find it on the back end. Talbot and Nilsson can’t save the team every game, and the defense needs to step it up.
Shoot the Puck; Just like one of the greatest players to ever lace up the skates has said in the past “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”, Wayne Gretzky knows his stuff, and the Oilers need to take his quote into high consideration when it comes to the game of hockey. If you’re shooting the puck more instead of sending a cheeky pass across the ice, you’ll find that the puck sometimes goes in(who knew).

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