The Edmonton Oilers look to provide us fans with a redemption game tonight with a game against the Ottawa Senators. Back on January 6th, the Ottawa Senators were in Edmonton and the Oilers were able to win that game by a score of 3-1. In that game, every goal was scored by Zach Hyman as he got a hat trick that night.
Zach Hyman Race To 50
Speaking of Zach Hyman with his one goal last night he is now only 1 goal away from hitting the 50-goal mark. That would make him the second player to hit 50 goals this season behind Auston Matthews. Hyman is second in the league in goals 9 behind Matthews and only one ahead of Sam Reinhart.
This has been a remarkable season for Hyman whose previous high in goals was last season where he got 36 goals. His three seasons with the Oilers were the three highest goal seasons, even though he was a bit on the older side. I don't think we can expect him to get 50 goals every season, but even if he gets more than 20 then his contract continues to look like a steal of a deal.
Oilers Can't Take Senators Lightly
Even though the Senators are tied for last place in the Atlantic Division the Edmonton Oilers can't take them lightly and they need to show up a play a solid game. One of the issues the Oilers have had as of late is poor starts.
The Senators have a couple of players that are able to put up some points, Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson are going to be leading this team for many years to come, but they have the ability to take over a game with their skill.
The issue with the Senators is their depth both on forward and on the back end. This is where the OIlers should be able to take advantage of the bottoms six as that is a one of the strengths of this team. One area I would expect to see a bounce back from the Oilers is their powerplay. In last nights game it had chances to change momentum, but it didn't score a goal till the game was out of hand.
The Oilers need to have a bounce back game today, even if they don't win the game I want to see them at least play a full 60 minutes. When the Oilers are in the playoffs they can't afford to not play whole 60 minutes as the teams will be to lock it down. So tonight will be a good chance to show what the Oilers can do.