3 Keys To An Edmonton Oilers Victory Tonight
Going into Wednesday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers fans had high hopes this season. After getting absolutely destroyed 8-1 I don’t think many fans were feeling too good after that.
The Edmonton Oilers have the opportunity to hit the reset button tonight as they have a rematch against the same Vancouver Canucks, only this time the game is at Rogers Place. I personally think that the Edmonton Oilers are going to return the favour by beating the Canucsk tonight, I just don’t think it will be as one-sided.
When it comes to tonight’s game the main thing the Edmonton Oilers need to do is play hard for the whole 60 mins. They started Wednesday’s game off okay, but then they tailed off. If they stay steady this game should be in the bag.
On top of playing a solid here are three more things that will be key in an Edmonton Oilers victory tonight.
New Defensive Pairs That Have Proven Themselves
The Edmonton Oilers were one of the hottest teams after the trade deadline, with their main addition being Mattias Ekholm. Unfortunately for Ekholm and the Oilers, Ekholm has yet to play a game in preseason or regular season.
He is expected to make his debut tonight, which should help stabilize things on the back end. The biggest effect will be on Bouchard. After Ekholm was brought in Bouchards get went to another level. Bouchard was very noticeable in the first game and not for good reasons.
That Nurse and Bouchard pairing were a combined -5 on Wednesday. Now +/- isn’t the best notifier as most analytics guys know, but it still is a sign of how much they were outscored. In the NHL that is honestly really all that matters.
The new pairings tonight will be the same as they were down the stretch and into the playoffs. This is a good thing as this will hopefully solidify things in their own end which will help improve their goals.
Better Team Goaltending
Now in no way am I blaming the last game on the Edmonton Oilers goaltending, but both goalies had a 0.750 SV%. That number is not going to be good enough to win any games against any team.
If the starting goalie can bring up the save percentage to a minimum of 0.900% then this team should win this game. The major factor in the last game was the team in front of them, so if the team is better at lowering the quality of shots the save percentage will climb up naturally.
The Edmonton Oilers Stars Need To Be There Stars
With tonight being the home opener for the Edmonton Oilers there should be no excuse for not being jacked up for this game. The whole crowd will be behind them cause they haven’t been able to watch their team in a meaningful game in months.
This being said the focus needs to be playing your best and that starts with the team’s stars. In the game on Wednesday, the whole team played poorly and that includes McDavid and Draisaitl. Even though Draisaitl did get a goal, the rest of this game was below average.
If the Oilers want to win this game their best players need to be the best players on the ice. They can’t get out performed by the likes of Brock Boeser as they did on Wednesday.
Next. Mattias Ekholm to return for Oilers home opener. dark
If the Edmonton Oilers can execute on these three things there is no reason why they shouldn’t handly beat the Canucks tonight.