Yesterday, the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators put on an excellent hockey game. The 4-2 score definitely doesn’t tell the whole story and the two teams meet up again tonight for round nine! The Oilers have won all previous eight meetings with the Senators and their dominant duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are trying to join Wayne Gretzky as players who’ve score more than 23 points against one team in a season.

Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Sens tonight,

• #28 Connor Brown – I’m a big fan of Brown’s. He’s big and fast and causes a ruckus when he’s deployed. One has to wonder what he’d look like and how he’d produce on a contender. Maybe a team like the Oilers…
• #9 Josh Norris – This guy is a zippy little fella eh? Great on the edges and quite quick. He was 71% on the dot and scored a real mucky goal yesterday that probably never should’ve happened if Darnell Nurse had been doing his job. Nevertheless, the Sens have a solid centerman for the next few years.
• #22 Nikita Zaitsev – He played over 25 minutes last night, was the only plus player on his team, had three shots, six hits, a giveaway, and a takeaway. I never thought after his time in Toronto that he’d take another step in his game. Good on him.

For Ottawa to have success, keep up the intensity! The Sens had Edmonton on the ropes a couple of times yesterday because of their hard forecheck and truculent nature in the mucky areas.

The Senators would do well to catch the Oilers snoozing too. Naturally after winning the first eight games of the season series, Edmonton might be poised to take their foot off of the pedal a bit and that’s when the Sens have to jump on the Oilers.

With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,

• #74 Ethan Bear – Was all over the stat sheet in a good way finishing the game last night over 70% in Corsi For % and Shots For %. To add to that, he is now one of Dave Tippett’s d-men that he trusts to close out hockey games alongside Darnell Nurse.
• #29 Leon Draisaitl – How will Leon follow up that hat-trick performance? Will he score from behind the goal line as opposed to on it? Gretzky has the record for most points against a single team in one season with 27 against the Kings in 1985-86 and Leon is sitting at 21 points with only tonight’s game remaining. It’d be a tall order for him to hit six points tonight but I’ll be watching to see if he can break that record anyhow.
• #13 Jesse Puljujarvi – Pulju hit the post and dusted the crossbar on another chance yesterday. He’s starting to find more and more soft ice recently and that only bodes well for the rest of his game. Considering the chances he’s getting and creating, Jesse is due to score a goal soon.

Three Keys to Success For the Oilers

• Anybody not named Leon Draisaitl, Win a Bloody Faceoff!

Once again, the Oilers were dominated on the draw. This cannot be the norm going into the post-season and I don’t see it being addressed internally. Ken Holland will need to bring someone it at some point here before the deadline, but for tonight, for my sanity, I’d really like to see Edmonton have a good night on the dot.

• Limit the Giveaways

Edmonton gave the puck away 16 times yesterday to Ottawa’s 12 and I would imagine a few of those brain farts lead to one or two of the scrambles around the Oilers net that Mikko Koskinen took care of.

Ottawa played the Oilers well and if not for the heroics of Connor, Leon, and Mikko, I’m not sure the Oilers would’ve walked away with the two points.

• Keep the Head on a Swivel

This is important on a couple of levels. One being the Sens love to catch opposing defenses napping at their own blue line and that allows one of their wingers to get open for a breakaway pass. It almost happened yesterday with Brady Tkachuk on one instance.

Speaking of Tkachuk, he’s been headhunting all year with complete disregard to his opponent. Maybe it’s time someone from the Oilers had a chat with him. Maybe it’s time to move Kassian up to Leon’s line on the LW so that other teams don’t get a free pass when it comes to targeting Edmonton’s stars? Then again, it’s entirely possible that they still might get a free pass even with Kassian on the ice.

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The Edmonton Oilers roll into Ottawa for a back-to-back series looking to take their record against the Senators to 9-0-0 on the season, but Brady Tkachuk and his band of brawlers will look to deny Connor McDavid a continuance of the perfect win record Edmonton has against his team.

Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Sens tonight,

• #7 Brady Tkachuk – If my count is right, Little Tkachuk has as many goals as he does fights in his last five games, one. So, I’m betting he’s going to get on the scoresheet at least once.
• #59 Alex Formenton – This young man has got speed to burn, baby! I’m kinda hoping there’s a race to the puck between him and McDavid just to illustrate how fast this guy can skate. He can score too as he’s netted a pair in his last five games since being inserted into Ottawa’s lineup this year.
• #2 Artem Zub – I’ve been very impressed with Zub’s ability to move the puck so calmly and defend with so much poise. On the whole, he’s definitely given Thomas Chabot a run for best defenseman of the season for the Sens.

For Ottawa to have success, one thing they could do is apply a hard forecheck on Edmonton’s defenders. They’ve got the big bodies who can skate like the wind in Connor Brown, Alex Formenton, Drake Batherson, and Nick Paul and against the Montreal Canadiens, the pairing of Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear struggled mightily. So, chip and chase but make sure to put the puck just out of Mike Smith’s reach so he doesn’t have the opportunity to fire the puck back the other way and create a counter attack.

Another thing is if their goaltender could play out of this world, that would give them an excellent chance to at least stay in the game. Tim Stutzle has had some really nice performances against the Oilers this season and Evgeni Dadonov is always a threat.

With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,

• #22 Tyson Barrie – He’s playing injured, that’s plain to see. I’ll be watching to see if his mobility or shot is challenged. This is a player that the Oilers need to be as healthy as possible going into the final stretch.
• #56 Kailer Yamamoto – He’s due for a goal here. Yamo’s been getting his nose dirty and a real handful for the opposition on the boards recently. Edmonton really needs some scoring from their wingers and there’s no better time than against the Senators, right?
• #14 Devin Shore – Actually, his line with Khaira and Chiasson has been a puck possession beast. Shore’s been lucky enough to get a couple of Ginos as a result, but he’s been using his size and strength along the walls in the muck very well in his last three games.

Three Keys to Success For the Oilers

• Stop F*cking Around in the D-Zone

Edmonton’s defense has to be better at moving the puck out of its own zone. I don’t know if the wingers are taking their sweet-ass time getting back or if the blueliners can’t handle the puck pressure but this is where the Canadiens took advantage of the Oilers when they beat Edmonton last game out.

• Can I See Some Physicality?

It’s a selfish request, but I’d like to see a bit of intensity from the Oilers manifested in the form of some solid bodychecking. Maybe it’s time to let Evgeni Dadonov pay the price for that hit from behind in front of the benches he laid on McDavid earlier in the year…

• Get In the Muck

More often than not I notice that the Oilers attempts to score are plays off the rush or cute tries that involve a very low percentage deflection or multiple passes before a shot that misses the net or is sent into the stands. Enough of that. It’s time to send pucks to the crease and start getting bloody because those are exactly the kinds of goals that the team is going to need to score in tight games in the post-season.

You know who would do both of those things? Jesse Puljujarvi. He’ll shoot from anywhere and he’ll get stuck in. He gives zero f*cks as to who is in his way or if his safety is at risk. He’ll go for it no questions asked. Maybe it’s time to utilize that kamikaze attitude.

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