Edmonton Oilers: 3 Keys To Victory Against The Philadelphia Flyers
After having a few days off after playing the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, the Edmonton Oilers are back in action tonight at Rogers Place against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers have a record of 2-1-1 after 4 games.
They are also coming off a fairly long break, having last played on Saturday in a 4-2 loss against the Florida Panthers. The Oilers are looking to continue their unbeaten start and go 6-0 to start the season. Here are 3 keys to victory.
1. Quick Start
After having so many days off between games the team needs to not start the game sleeping. The Edmonton Oilers need to come out firing tonight. With so many days between the high intensity of gameplay, the team may come out flat-footed after being without game action for so long. This needs to not be a problem.
The good thing is the Philadelphia Flyers are also coming off a long break as well. The Oilers need to take advantage of a potential Flyer slow start. If the Edmonton Oilers get a quick goal to start this game, I think Philadelphia will struggle to regain control and the Oilers may run away with this one.
2. Birthday Boy
Today is Leon Draisaitl’s 26th birthday. This is bad news for the Flyers, Leon is already averaging more than 2 points per game and he is going to want to celebrate his birthday with more points. So far this season Leon only has 1 goal on the power play. This has to do with Connor McDavid‘s new one-timer skill and the ability of Zach Hyman to score in front of the net.
If the Edmonton Oilers get lots of power play opportunities today, watch for Draisaitl to get set up a lot. I think today is a game where you could see Leon having one of his everything goes in the net games. So if it was me I wouldn’t wear a nice hat to the game tonight because you may be throwing it on the ice
3. Special Teams
This is going be repeating theme throughout the season. The Edmonton Oilers currently have the league’s best power play and 5th best penalty kill. The Flyers power play is 3rd and their penalty kill is 18th. If there is a lot of penalties called in this game the Oilers should come out ahead in this battle.
The Oilers power play has been clicking along at a 47.1% rate so far this season. That is almost 10% better than any other team in the NHL right now. The team has so many different ways to score on the power play. There isn’t one player on the Edmonton Oilers power play that isn’t a threat to score and this is why it is so hard for other teams to defend.
Mike Smith still isn’t ready to play tonight so Mikko Koskinen will be getting the start again. Koskinen has played good in his games so far. The Oilers could play a bit more solid defensively in front of his though.
Hopefully, the Edmonton Oilers aren’t suffering from a Las Vegas hangover and don’t come out slow. If the Oilers play the same type of game they have been played so far this season they should come out of tonight with a 6-0 record.