Edmonton Oilers: 3 Keys To Victory Against The Nashville Predators
After defeating the Seattle Kraken in a rather sloppy game on Monday, the Edmonton Oilers are back in action tonight. They will be taking on the Nashville Predators. The Predators won last night against the Calgary Flames 3-2 in overtime. The Predators were outshot badly last night 22-40. Juuse Saros kept them in the game, but he will not be starting tonight.
The Edmonton Oilers will need to play a better game than they did on Monday to skate away with a win. There is a number of things that the Oilers need to do to win tonight. Here are my 3 keys to victory,
1. Take Advantage of The Backup
With the Nashville Predators starting Juuse Saros last night against the Calgary Flames, the Oilers will be facing Connor Ingram tonight. Ingram has only one start so far this season. In that game he made 33 saves on 35 shots.
The Edmonton Oilers need to take advantage of playing against the weaker goalie. Juuse Saros is an All-Star caliber goalie, not having to face him is a large advantage. If the Oilers can get good scoring chances, odds are a majority of them will go in.
2. Allow Less Shots
In the 8 games so far this season the Edmonton Oilers have allowed an average of 35 shots against per game. That is tied for the leagues highest with the Columbus Blue Jackets. They are allowing on average 10 more shots per game allowed than the leader, Washington Capitals. The issue with allowing more shots is you will eventually end up allowing more goals.
The Edmonton Oiler goalies are 26th in the league in save percentage at 0.925. This means that in theory they were to allow the same amount of shots against as the Washington Capitals they would allow about one less goal per game. In the NHL one goal in a game means a lot.
Obviously there is a lot more factors to a shot than just the amount, but at quick glance if the Oilers want to cut down on their goals against it starts with allowing less shots.
3. High End Talent
The Edmonton Oilers top players have played lights out so far this season. Where the Nashville Predators top six is low on high end talent. If you compare the Oilers top six to any team in the league it arguably is the best in the league. Whereas the Predators is near the bottom of the league when it come to top end forwards.
The Edmonton Oilers 5v5 game should be able to take advantage of the large swing in top end talent. With the separation of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl the Oilers have two skilled lines that can wear down an opponent.
After playing a game last night that went to overtime, the Nashville Predators will likely have a slow start tonight. If the Edmonton Oilers can get an early lead, the Predators will have trouble coming back due to their lack of star power. Once again, like most games so far this season, I think the Oilers will win this game.