Edmonton Oilers At Anaheim Ducks-Pregame

The Edmonton Oilers end their three-game road trip tonight as they face the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim. The Edmonton Oilers are playing great hockey right now as they are 7-3 in their last 10 games. The Ducks are on the opposite with a record of 3-7 in their last 10.

This is a game the Oilers should win, and the way they are playing right now I think they will. The only advantage the Ducks have is that the Edmonton Oilers not only played last night they played extra as the game went into a shootout. If the Ducks win it will be because the Oilers are tired.

The fact that is game is an earlier start also doesn't help the Oilers. The thing that does help the Oilers is how close the two rinks are to each other. The Crypto.com Arena is only 30.4 miles away from the Honda Center. So there is no reason the Oilers players couldn't have had a full night's sleep.

The Anaheim Ducks are in the same loop that the Oilers were in the early 2010s. They have a lot of younger skilled players, but they just can't seem to score goals. They are fourth last in the league in goals for. This plays into the strength of the Oilers whose weakness would be defending.

The Ducks are coming off a 2-0 shutout against the Arizona Coyotes. Whereas the Oilers are riding high with their 4-game winning streak. There couldn't be a much better matchup for the Oilers in the second half of a back-to-back.

For the Oilers I expect Calvin Pickard to get the start. In his last start, Pickard picked up a win against the New Jersey Devils only letting in 3 goals. So far this season he's got a 2-2 record with a GAA of 2.99 and a SV% of 0.898. While those numbers aren't anything spectacular, I expect them to go up tonight against the offence of the Ducks.

This should be a fun game to watch from an Oilers fan's point of view. They should control most of the gameplay. The Oilers fatigue may play an issue but it shouldn't handicap them enough for them to lose this game.