Tag Archives: Predators

Edmonton Oilers, Zach Laing

Oilers vs Predators – LB gets the start and Maroon sees time on the first line

mcdavid preds

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (27-37-7, 61 pts. 5-4-1 in their last 10) vs Nashville Predators (34-22-13, 81 pts. 7-1-2 in their last 10)

Location: Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta

Time: 7:00 PM MT

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

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

After falling at the hands of the Arizona Coyotes 4-0, the Oilers are looking to bounce back against a playoff bound Nashville Predators. The team’s 4-0 loss against the Coyotes is one the team would love to have back. They outshot the ‘Yotes 44-29, and should have won the game but the Saturday night curse continued and the Oilers fell.

The Predators, who are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games have lost their last two games. The Flames took them down in Overtime last Wednesday 4-2 in OT, then they fell 4-2 to the Canucks Saturday night.

While the Predators are sitting in the first Wild Card position and likely heading for the playoffs barring any disaster, the Oilers are playing for pride.

“To get comfortable and just say I’m going to come back here and get into my spot in Edmonton, I think would be a grave mistake on many of our players including our upper-end guys,” said McLellan. “I did a study the other day and went back and looked at Edmonton’s roster last year and the number of players that played in an Oilers jersey at one point. If I’m driving home in the call and saying to myself ‘if it’s not in Edmonton then it’s somewhere else.’ I’d go do that homework, because for a lot of them it was not somewhere else. It was nowhere. We’re in 28th, 29th, 30th range and those players aren’t quite as desirable as the Stanley Cup champs, even if it’s on par.”

McLellan’s comments show how nobody on this team should feel comfortable and nobody should be taking a night off. Despite the fact this is something that shouldn’t have to be said, it’s clear the Oilers need a kick to get going.

The team should be playing their most passionate hockey yet. It’s frustrating, it’s tough to watch. None the less, with only three weeks of hockey and ten games remaining it’s important for the players to make one last impression.

There are some lineup changes tonight.

Patrick Maroon draws in alongside Connor McDavid and Jordan Eberle, while Iiro Pakarinen lines up with Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl.

Laurent Brossoit gets the start.

Quotes from oilers.nhl.com.

Predictions for tonight:

  1. The Oilers win the game for LB.
  2. The line of Patrick Maroon, Connor McDavid and Jordan Eberle are all on the ice for two Oilers goals.
  3. Adam Clendening has another good showing, and scores his first with the Oilers.

Nashville Predators Preview:

Nashville’s franchise-record 14-game point streak ended with a 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. The Predators are seven points ahead of the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. “It’s a tight playoff race, and you need all the points you can get,” Josi told The Tennessean after the loss Saturday. “It got us some separation from the teams below us, but it’s still a tight race. We’re nowhere near the playoffs yet, so we’ve got to keep going and get points along the way here.” Forward Colton Sissons has two goals and an assist in three games since being recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League. Sissons replaced center Paul Gaustad, who has been out since March 5 because of an upper-body injury.

— NHL.com

Line Combos and Starting Goalies:

Oilers (Laurent Brossoit):

Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Iiro Pakarinen
Matt Hendricks – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Nail Yakupov
Lauri Korpikoski – Mark Letestu – Adam Cracknell

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Nikita Nikitin – Adam Clendening
Jordan Oesterle – Griffin Reinhart

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

Nashville Predators (Pekka Rinne):

Calle Jarnkrok – Ryan Johansen – James Neal
Filip Forsberg – Mike Ribeiro – Craig Smith
Miikka Salomaki – Mike Fisher – Viktor Avirdsson
Colin Wilson – Colton Sissons – Austin Watson

Roman Josi – Shea Weber
Mattias Ekholm – Ryan Ellis
Anthony Bitetto – Barret Jackman

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

Edmonton Oilers, Zach Laing

Oilers vs Predators Preview – One! More! Game!

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (19-25-5) vs Nashville Predators (21-18-8)

Location: Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta

Time: 8:00 PM MT

Where to find it: TV: CBC – Radio: 630 CHED

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

 

ONE! MORE! GAME! ONE! MORE! GAME!

That’s right folks, ONE MORE GAME until the triumphant return of our beloved Connor McDavid. Following tonight’s matchup against the struggling Predators, the Oilers don’t play another game until the 2nd of February due to the NHL’s All-Star Weekend.

The break is going to be much needed time for some Oilers to recover from injury. Following the break, McDavid and Oscar Klefbom are expected to return from their injuries.

Speaking of injuries, Brandon Davidson suffered an injury during Thursday’s matchup against the Stars, and he was subsequently placed on the injured reserve.

Griffin Reinhart was recalled from the Bakersfield Condors, and will play in his first NHL game since his assignment to the Condors on November 28th.

“When I first went down I was a bit upset and, mentally, it was tough to overcome — or (I was) a bit disappointed I should say,” said Reinhart. “But I think I’ve bounced back pretty strong. I started showing up a bit earlier, I started staying out a bit later and doing some more off-ice things and I think it was starting to pay-off.”

The jury is out on Reinhart, but Elliotte Freidman gave him a solid vote of confidence Friday afternoon saying “it’s way too early to write this guy off.”

Let’s hope his brief stint in the A helped restore some confidence in his game, and hopefully we see him turn a bit of a corner here.

Tonight, the Oilers just look to make it through the game without any injuries. The aforementioned all-star break is going to be a great time for the boys to recover, and hopefully make a playoff push come February.

Predictions for tonight:

  1. Oilers win!
  2. Somebody gets hurt.
  3. Fans celebrate as the return of McDavid is closer.

The Otherside:

Forward Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win Thursday at the Winnipeg Jets and has nine points (three goals, six assists) in seven games with the Predators since he was acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 6. The Predators have killed 17 of 18 penalties over their past five games. Nashville is 3-7-1 in its past 11 games but is 2-1-1 in its past four and entered Friday one point out of playoff position in the Western Conference. “We’ve got to be consistent with what we’re doing,” coach Peter Laviolette told the Predators website. “There are a lot of things that go into it. We’re at our best when we’re playing with energy and we execute well. There’s no question that (the win against Winnipeg is) just the first step to getting something going in the right direction. Now you’ve got to build off it.” – nhl.com

Line Combos and Starting Goalies c/o Left Wing Lock:

Oilers (Cam Talbot):

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell
Nail Yakupov – Benoit Pouliot – Jordan Eberle
Matt Hendricks – Anton Lander – Rob Klinkhammer
Zack Kassian – Mark Letestu – Iiro Pakarinen

Darnell Nurse – Justin Schultz
Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Griffin Reinhart – Eric Gryba

Nashville Predators (Pekka Rinne):

Kevin Fiala – Ryan Johansen – James Neal
Filip Forsberg – Mike Ribeiro – Craig Smith
Mikka Salomaki – Mike Fisher – Calle Jarnkrok
Eric Nystrom – Paul Gaustad – Cody Bass

Roman Josi – Shea Weber
Mattias Ekholm – Ryan Ellie
Barret Jackman – Petter Granberg

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

 

Armchair GM, Fancy Stats, NHL, Zach Laing

Putting Out An Oilers Tire Fire

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The season is young, and the sample size is small but it is apparent that the tire fire known as the Edmonton Oilers defence needs to get put out. Before we go any further, let’s take a look at some numbers surrounding the Oilers defence, and how it compares to the rest of the league this season:

  • High Danger Scoring Chances Against in all situations – 144 – 27th in the NHL
  • High Danger Scoring Chances +/- in all situations – -38 – 28th in the NHL
  • Scoring Chances Against per 60- 27.3 – 21st in the NHL
  • On-Ice sv% – 89.3% – 25th in the NHL
  • Goals Against – 46 – 28th in the NHL
  • Goals Against per 60 – 3.2 – 27th in the NHL

What these numbers show is that in our defensive zone we are allowing teams to score on shots that are taken from the slot, and the low slot. Often, these are due to defensive zone breakdowns. Not only that, none of these are numbers that are suddenly shockers to Oilers fans. Our glaring defensive mistakes have cost this team for years.

We saw it happen again last week against the Habs where defencemen kept getting caught out of position on goals:

Goal one: Rookie Darnell Nurse and “basically still a rookie” Oscar Klefbom both leave the man in front of the net and Gallagher has an easy opportunity to put the Habs up 1-0. PK Subban’s shot from the point is also able to make it’s way through two defencemen.

Goal two is a special one. Gryba is in the corner laying the body on Markov as he made a easy pass across the ice for Galchenyuk to redirect in. Ference is caught just standing around the faceoff dot looking lazy, and Lander fails to look over his back shoulder before the pass is made.

Unfortunatley, this is just from one game. These glaring mistakes are happening game in and game out and I’m not sure how much longer the team can continue to carry a mediocre defence.

Aah yes, again we come back to the Oilers having this tendency to trade away defencemen who are still developing for scraps. Only two defencemen developed since 1984? That’s just plain bad.

MAKING A MOVE

BLH writer Lindsay Ryall wrote an excellent piece looking at trading for Taylor Hall’s old OHL teammate and current Nashville Predator Ryan Ellis. At the beginning of the summer I explored the possibility of trading for Seth Jones, a move I still would love to see the Oilers make.

The discussion is rampant, and it no longer can be refuted that the Oilers need help. This season will soon be found wasted like years past if we are unable to defend and help out Cam Talbot and Anders Nilsson. The thing that we keep coming back to is “well, what’s out there?” and that’s the problem that is being run into. Even last year, we saw the Islanders make deals for Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy at the beginning of the season so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility to see it happen again.

In the offseason, there were rumours about Brent Seabrook being a trade target for the Oilers but that didn’t quite work out after he received an eight year, $55-million contract extension.

The truth is that I don’t really know if I can sit through another whole season of poor defensive play, especially considering the fact that this Edmonton Oilers offense has been more potent than we have seen in the past few years.

Connor McDavid got named NHL’s Rookie of the Month for October after scoring five goals and seven assists through twelve games, which was well deserved. Taylor Hall was named third star of the week after scoring two goals and five assists in last week’s three games.

I have a feeling that it won’t be the first of hearing about Hall and McDavid having strong seasons.

Sadly, I don’t know what can be done to fix this defence. Is there a Leddy or Boychuk deal that could be made? Because that is what this team really needs.