Edmonton Oilers: One last game to end the regular season

The Edmonton Oilers have one more game to go this season before moving on to their playoff matchup with the Winnipeg Jets. This year’s playoff looks a little different with other teams actually starting tonight.

The Oilers are getting back Slater Koekkoek today who will be playing in his first game since earlier in the season. Koekkoek is a nice bottom pairing defenceman the team can rely upon when needed in the playoffs. It is nice that they can get him back for one game before the postseason begins.

The expectations for today’s game are not different from the last few matchups the Oilers have had. Sure go out there and play the best hockey you can, but do not get injured in the process.

Today’s game means very little. The Oilers have the second place within the division clinched, they have been playing great hockey down the stretch, and the lineup is pretty healthy. Koekkoek coming back helps make the lineup a little more complete for the playoffs.

A projected lineup for the last game of the season via Jack Michaels the play-by-play announcer for the Edmonton Oilers:

In the grand scheme of things, this game is not worth getting hurt in. The Oilers had a great regular season, one of the best in recent history. The team really benefitted from playing in the North Division this season. Now their eyes have to turn to the playoffs and taking things one game at a time.

The team really benefited from playing the Canucks more often than not down the stretch the last week. Those games really helped spread the gap between them and Winnipeg for second in the North, but Vancouver is not Winnipeg.

The Jets are not going to roll over and give the Oilers an easy series. Similar to last season during the play-in round against Chicago. The Oilers looked ahead of themselves a little bit and ended up getting burned by a team that was not better than them on paper. History cannot repeat itself.

In their last four games, the Oilers have given up at least three goals every time. Today hopefully the team can focus on just playing well defensively. Rather than outscoring their opponents let’s get one final performance where they shut them down.