Edmonton Oilers Look for Seven: Game Thread
By Kris Hansen
Holy hell! The Edmonton Oilers won last night in overtime in a game they had absolutely no business being in.
They were outshot 49-24. They were hammered in their own zone for a good chunk of the game.
Despite that, they won.
I still believe in Cam Talbot DAMN IT
— Kris (@WildcardKH) December 15, 2015
Yeah, I’m quoting myself here because I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU CAM TALBOT. What did Talbot do in his first game since November 27th? Stood on his bloody head, stopping a career high 47 shots.
He was outstanding and he stole the game for the Oilers. You need that from time to time.
Tonight, they travel to New York to wrap up their season series against the New York Rangers.
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- Pacific division predictions
From New York
From Ryan Womeldorf from Fansideds New York Rangers site, Bluelinestation.com
"Of late, it hasn’t seemed to matter what the Rangers do or how well the offense performs. They dropped an overtime decision to the Flames on Saturday after frantically rallying from a 4-1 deficit in the third period and the defense is really struggling right now. Even worse, goaltending hasn’t been able to save the day as was the case earlier in the year.Rumor has it that Brady Skjei will get the call up soon, so hopefully his addition to the lineup will help turn things around a bit for the defense."
The New York Rangers are struggling lately. In their past ten games, they are only 2-6-2. This includes the Friday Night barnburner against the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
The Rangers waived Jarett Stoll, who was claimed by the Minnesota Wild, to make room for Skjei. Brady Skjei will be making his NHL debut tonight. He was drafted 28th overall in the 2012 NHL entry draft from the Rangers.
Keys to the Game
A bit of a repeat here: the Edmonton Oilers cannot afford to rely on their goaltender to make nearly 50 saves in order to win the game. The Rangers may be struggling but they are a good NHL team. The Oilers cannot let the Rangers limit them to two shots in a period like the Bruins did last night in the second.
Hall played fewest min of season last night, 16:00. He and Draisaitl (16:13) will be fresh tonight. Look for strong game from both. #Oilers
— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) December 15, 2015
Hall and Draisaitl were held pointless and had their fewest minutes played of the season so far. I agree with Jason Gregor: I expect Hall and Draisaitl to come out hungry tonight.
Another key: Back to back games are brutal. They just are. Historically, the Edmonton Oilers have not been great on back to backs, but this season has been somewhat different.
- In October, they won back to back games against Calgary and Vancouver.
- In November, in the First set, they won 4-3 against Anaheim but then had a stinker against Arizona, losing 4-1.
- Also in November, the Second set, They lost 4-3 in Overtime against Detroit, but the next game they beat Pittsburgh 3-2.
So far, they have not lost back-to-backs and are 2-1 on the second game back. Does this mean anything? It’s hard to tell.
Who to Watch
Edmonton Oilers: Anders Nilsson. I’m going with Anders the Giant here because he had a rough game against the Rangers and Cam Talbot played superbly against Boston last night. Nilsson will have to bounce back strong. To be fair, he did look somewhat tired against the Rangers on Friday as he played seven straight games. He’s been a rock for the most part and it’ll be interesting to see how he performs against the Rangers tonight.
New York Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist. The Oilers chased the King out of his crease on Friday night. They were the first team this season to force the Rangers to pull Lundqvist. You can bet that, like Nilsson, he will be looking for a big rebound game against the Edmonton Oilers.
Projected Line Ups
Taken from Dailyfaceoff.com and subjected to last minute changes.
Edmonton Oilers
Taylor Hall–Leon Draisaitl–Teddy Purcell
Jujhar Khaira– Ryan Nugent-Hopkins–Jordan Eberle
Matt Hendricks–Mark Letestu–Lauri Korpikoski
Luke Gazdic–Anton Lander–Iiro Pakarinen
Anders Nilsson
New York Rangers
Rick Nash–Derick Brassard–Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider– Oscar Lindberg– Jesper Fast
Viktor Stalberg– J.T Miller-Kevin Hayes
Tanner Glass– Dominic Moore–Emerson Etem
Brady Skjei- Dan Boyle
Henrik Lundqvist
Parting Shots and Prediction
Nikita Nikitin played instead of Andrew Ference last night and he actually did not look bad last night. Maybe Bakersfield was a productive stint for him. Still, small sample size, but not too shabby.
Andrej Sekera had the OT winner last night and I’m loving his game each game he plays. Sure, there’s some that are saying that Nurse brings him down, but Sekera is looking like that top pairing defenceman when he signed with the Oilers in the off season. Maybe Mark Fayne was the one bringing him down?
Dylan McIlrath hasn’t been awful with the Rangers. He was taken in 2010, 10th overall, over Cam Fowler (who would go 12th to Anaheim). He brings a nasty physical element and from what I’ve read, has not looked bad with the puck either. Playing with Keith Yandle might help though.
Ryan McDonagh is moved to the right side tonight, with Brady Skjei entering the line up.
I’m going to say that the Oilers win tonight. For whatever reason, they seem to win the second game in the back to backs this season. I think Draisaitl and Hall connect tonight and the Oilers win 4-2.