Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

2021-22 Edmonton Oilers G2 Previews: Oilers Vs. Flames

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

Oilersnation

Game Notes: Calgary Flames @ Edmonton Oilers — Game 2
  • The Flames are chasing history. If they lose on Saturday night, it’ll mark 11 season-opening losses in a row. The last time Calgary won a season-opener was in 2009 when Miikka Kiprusoff was in net and Brandon Prust scored the game-winner.
  • These teams squared off 10 times and the thought was some serious bad blood would develop over the course of the shortened season. Instead, the games felt a lot less lively than in recent years, possibly because there weren’t fans in the stadium.
  • Key to Calgary bouncing back will be the play of Markstrom, who, as I mentioned earlier, wasn’t all that great in his debut season with the Flames
  • …speaking of Calgary’s big free-agent addition, Coleman won’t be in the lineup for the team’s season opener against Edmonton on Saturday night because he got suspended for boarding Winnipeg Jets forward Jansen Harkins during the preseason.
  • With Coleman out, the Flames were using defenceman Oliver Kylington as a forward on the fourth line.
  • The Flames have taken a step backwards in back-to-back seasons since finishing at the top of the Western Conference. Will that trend continue this year? Or will the Flames bounce back?

BLH’s Thoughts: WTF? Where are the game notes regarding the Edmonton Oilers from OILERSnation? If I wanted to read about what the Flames were up to I’d go to FLAMESnation to get it. 

I can’t believe their using Kylington at forward… They’re going to f*ck that asset up so bad… When he find a new club with a coach who knows how to use him, Sutter and the Lames are going to continue to look like morons. Kylington is the one guy on Calgary that can keep up to Connor McDavid… Seeing how effective players like Nick Leddy and Duncan Keith were in the past against McDavid, wouldn’t you want Kylington on the ice as much as possible as 97?

Oil on Whyte

3 Keys To Victory Against The Calgary Flames

Keep the Pedal to the Metal

  • In the game on Wednesday, the Oilers were up 2-0 against the Vancouver Canucks and let the lead slip away. They seemed to change their playing style in the middle of the game. Instead of playing a clean break out and skate it in style. They switched to a chip it out and dump in game. They just sat back and waited for attack after attack.

Keep it Clean

  • The 80% penalty kill percentage is about the same as last years 82.5%. So as long as the Oilers can keep it at under 2 penalties taken a game they should be able to win the special teams battle. With the powerplay percentage of 27.6% last year winning that battle should be easy if they draw more penalties than they take.

Keep Winning Faceoffs

  • Last season the Edmonton Oilers won only 50.4% of their faceoffs. On Wednesday they won 64%. If the Oilers can keep that percentage up all year that is going to be excellent news for this team.

BLH’s Thoughts: Thank you! At least one of the Oilers blogs online is writing about THE OILERS!

It was a bit weird that Edmonton took their foot off the gas about halfway through the game against Vancouver. Who knows why, but I imagine their flow kept getting interrupted by the refs calling penalties on them. 

Now, what you’re going to want to keep an eye out for is the contrast in team speed. In preseason it was so obvious how much faster the Oilers were than Calgary, and there’s a good chance that hasn’t changed because Sutter-led teams are big bodied and he’s looking to win the shot share.

The Flames will probably chip and chase and try to run down Edmonton’s defense tonight, meaning, Evan Bouchard, Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, and Slater Koekkoek will all need to have their heads on a swivel. 

To add to the above, Edmonton’s forwards must come back deep into their own zone to collect the puck and not force their d-men into rimshots and long-bomb passes. It’ll make their zone exits that much easier I reckon. 

On the whole, the Flames roster doesn’t scare me much. What does concern me is how much they drive the net with Smith tending to it and what kind of cheap shots they’re going to get in. Guys like Tkachuk and Mangiapane can run around like chickens with their heads cut off because Lucic, Zadorov, Gudbranson, and Ritchie will take care of business whereas Edmonton really has two players who can straighten those little pricks out Gilmore Tuttle-style. 

Copper and Blue

GAME PREVIEW: Edmonton Oilers vs. Calgary Flames
  • Tippett says that Koekkoek is likely to get in for his first game of the season tonight, he’ll pair with Evan Bouchard. Zack Kassian is likely back after missing the opener while recovering from a nasty spill during a preseason tilt.
  • Jesse Puljujärvi could score a lot of goals just like he did his first of the year – parked right in front of the goaltender.
  • Let’s watch to see if Tippett ends up pairing Bouchard with Darnell Nurse anymore tonight.
  • Mike Smith looks to make it 2-0-0 after turning aside 36 of 38 total shots. The Flames will roll with Jacob Markstrom in their season debut.
  • Really interested to see the Oilers top line out against any Flames pair that has Erik Gudbranson or Nikita Zadorov on it.
  • Devin Shore is out for the Oilers. For the Flames, Blake Coleman is serving a one game suspension. centre Brad Richardson is out, and former Oiler Tyler Pitlick is out as well.

BLH’s Thoughts: Mark my words, Hyman and Pulju will not have the same easy time in front of Markstrom as they did in front of Thatcher Demko. The Flames have giant crease-clearing defenders to sort out any forwards who want to linger net-front. If it were me, I’d put Yamamoto there to draw penalties. 

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!