Tag Archives: Flyers

Edmonton Oilers, Zach Laing

Oilers vs Flyers – Maroon makes Oilers debut

EDMONTON, AB. NOVEMBER 3, 2015 - Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, charges the net chased by Brandon Manning of the Philadelphia Flyers at Rexall Place in Edmonton. Shaughn Butts/Edmonton Journal
Shaughn Butts/Edmonton Journal

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (23-34-7, 55 pts) vs Philadelphia Flyers (29-22-11, 69 points.

Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Time: 5:00 PM MT

Where to find it: TV: Sportsnet One – Radio: 630 CHED

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

Two in a row!

That’s right, the Oilers come into tonight’s matchup after winning two in a row. After defeating the New York Islanders 3-1 on home ice Sunday night, the Oilers Connor McDavid beat the Sabres 2-1 in OT.

The win in Buffalo was the Oilers first game on a brief four game road trip which will be the team’s longest road trip before the end of the season on April 9th.

Tonight, Patrick Maroon makes his Oilers on the third line with Mark Letestu and Lauri Korpikoski. I don’t think it would be out of the realm of possibility to see him play some minutes with McDavid and Eberle and McLellan mentioned that today.

“We just want him to feel comfortable,” McLellan said. “Will he move up? Will he move around? Of course he will, because we’re trying to adapt and adjust with a bunch of new players. Let’s let him get his feet wet, let’s let him feel comfortable and then we’ll figure out where he fits.”

Maroon has 79 points in 204 games played and has this season he has 13 points in 56 game played.

“I’m really excited, it’s going to be a great opportunity for me,” he said. “Anaheim was really good to me, but they had to make some moves and I was the guy to go. I’m excited to become an Edmonton Oiler. This team is going to be really good in a few years. Just to be part of this rebuild, and the new stadium, is really exciting for me.”

“I have pretty good hands for a big man,” Maroon said. “My job is to create space for my linemates, get to the net, create some havoc and hopefully we can get some goals.”

I really like the style of game that he plays, and I think he will be a good addition to this team. At only $1.5 million per for the next two years, he is on a very reasonable contract given the success he saw alongside Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in the past.

He seems to be coming into town with the right attitude and I am really happy with this move. To me, Maroon is one of those ‘love him if you have him, hate him if you don’t’ guys. Now that he’s in Edmonton, I love him.

Yak is back!

Predictions for tonight:

  1. Maroon is awesome, and gets time in the top six tonight.
  2. The Pardy Party continues and he follows up his debut with another strong performance.
  3. Connor McDavid avenges his injury suffered at the hands of the Flyers, and takes it to the next level. 2G, 1 A.

Flyers Preview: 

For Philadelphia, the Stanley Cup Playoffs already have started. “Right now every game is a playoff game for us,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere told the Flyers website Wednesday. “We need points in every game.” The Flyers have won three straight and are three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild card into the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. “We’re going to fight to get back into a playoff spot,” forward Claude Giroux said. “There’s no quitting in this team.” Steve Mason could start in goal Thursday. In three games against the Oilers with the Flyers, he’s 3-0-0 with a 1.95 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. Michal Neuvirth has started the past four games, going 3-1-0 with a 2.53 GAA and .907 save percentage. He made 29 saves in a 5-3 win Monday against the Calgary Flames.

— NHL.com

Line Combos and Starting Goalies c/o Left Wing Lock:
Oilers (Cam Talbot):

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Zack Kassian
Nail Yakupov – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Patrick Maroon – Mark Letestu – Lauri Korpikoski
Matt Hendricks – Anton Lander – Adam Cracknell

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Adam Clendening – Darnell Nurse
Adam Pardy (Party) – Brandon Davidson

EDM Injuries: Oscar Klefbom (leg infection), Andrew Ference (hip), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (hand), Eric Gryba (knee), Benoit Pouliot (unknown, but likely shoulder separation).

Scratched: Iiro Pakarinen, Luke Gazdic, Nikita Nikitin

Philadelphia Flyers (Michal Neuvirth): 

Brayden Schenn – Claude Giroux – Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl – Sean Couturier – Sam Gagner
Scott Laughton – Nick Cousins – Matt Read
Chris Vandevelde – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Ryan White

Andrew MacDonald – Shayne Gotisbehere
Nick Schultz – Mark Streit
Evgeni Medvedev – Radko Gudas

Any ideas on how to improve my game previews? Send me an email at zjlaing@gmail.com.

 

Edmonton Oilers, Kris Hansen, NHL

The BLH Oilers Weekly Round Up: October 4th-10th

Photo courtesy of John Russell

 

First week of the NHL season took place. The Edmonton Oilers played twice losing both games to St. Louis and Nashville, 3-1 and 2-0 respectively. Still, hockey is back and I could not be anymore happier.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars of the Week

You know, it’s a bit tough looking for three stars because there was really only one player that stood out as a number one star in my eyes and the rest were a collective “meh”. Even more so, it’s hard to choose someone when you go scoreless in two games (I’m not counting the accidental bank in goal from St. Louis as one).

3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

He technically was credited with the goal against St. Louis but like I said, it was a complete fluke. Still, Nuge has been solid this year. He’s easily one of our best, if not best, defensive forward. He rarely looks lost out there. I’ve also noticed he’s not afraid to shoot the puck. I think him and Hall are a good fit together.

2. Nail Yakupov 

Hey! Nail finally got a chance to play with McDavid last night! That’s a positive right? He’s looked solid on both ends of the ice. He is causing turnovers in the offensive zone and is more tenacious. He needs to shoot the puck more though: there were times where he would look for a pass rather than a shot. Plus, he fumbled it twice on the blue line in the game against Nashville. Still, with Eberle out, it’s about time that Yakupov gets a chance in the top six and it’s up to him to keep it that way.

1. Cam Talbot 

This one is a landslide first star. Talbot was very solid to outstanding in the two games so far. I cannot say that of the four goals he let in that it was on him. He’s keeping the team in the games which has been a far cry from past seasons where the goalies could not save a beachball from going in. The irony is now the Oilers cannot score. Who saw that one coming? Talbot is looking like a number one goalie that the Oilers have needed so badly these last couple of seasons, two games in be damned.

Edmonton Oilers News and Rumors 

At this point of the season, there are not a lot of rumblings.

There was a rumor that Nikitin would be going to Russia. Alas, per Elliot Friedman, that will not be the case.  He’s going to be staying in Bakersfield for the foreseeable future.

Everyone’s favorite mostly out of touch TSN segment the Reporters are questioning if the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid are crumbling under pressure.  Before we take out the pitchforks, Farber does defend the notion as being silly. Which it totally is because it’s two games into the season.

Around the League 

Videos of the Week. 

We had our first 3v3 OT game it was absolute madness.

 

Henrik Lundqvist made the save of the year

 

Jack Eichel had his first NHL goal

As did Dylan Larkin

The Week Ahead

The Oilers take on Dallas on Tuesday, St. Louis on Thursday for our home opener and visit Calgary on Saturday for a Hockey Night in Canada game.

That’s your Weekly Roundup for this week!

Follow me on Twitter!