Tag Archives: Preview

Edmonton Oilers, Zach Laing

Oilers vs Canucks – And then there were none…

McDavid vs Canucks

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (30-42-7, 67 pts. 4-6 in their last 10) vs Calgary Flames (32-40-6, 70 pts. 4-5-1 in their last 10)

Location: Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta

Time: 8:00 PM MT

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

THANK YOU!

Thank you all for reading my work throughout the course of this season. To know some of you seek out my work over others is very kind, and keeps me doing what I do.

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

 

Just like that, 82 games will have come and gone.

In a season filled with disappointments, it cannot be lost the success the Oilers have seen this year. I will be taking a look at these success over the next few days, and will have a post coming shortly.

Through all of the highs, and all of the lows it sucks to see the Oilers season go.

This season, the Oilers have fared very well against the Canucks outscoring them 10 – 4 and winning three of four games. Darnell Nurse, who took a puck to the throat during Wednesday’s game against the Flames, could return to the lineup tonight.

“Doctors have, from what I understand, cleared him, so if he is ready to play, we’ll play him,” coach Todd McLellan said. “He is a tough customer and that’s part of what makes him an attractive player.”

This article is tough to write, and I must say I don’t even know what to say. The season is over, and to tell you the truth I have been checked out of this season a few weeks ago.

When you have followed the Oilers for 11 years and the team has missed the playoffs in 10 of those, it is difficult to stay interested.

To be fair though, I really hope the Oilers come out and kick the snot out of Vancouver.

Predictions for tonight:

  1. Oilers win 69-0.
  2. There are 420 penalty minutes tonight.
  3. CONNOR MCDAVID HATTRICK!

Canucks Preview:
Vancouver didn’t practice Friday coming off back-to-back games, which included the loss to the Oilers and a 7-3 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday. The Canucks called up forward Mike Zalewski from Utica of the American Hockey League on Friday. It is the second call up for the 23-year-old since signing a contract in January; he had one assist in two games and is expected to replace defenseman Andrey Pedan, who had been playing as a forward, on the fourth line. Vancouver is 3-10-1 in its past 14 games going into the season finale. “This is the worst I’ve ever been a part of since I’ve been here,” forward Jannik Hansen, who has played nine NHL seasons for the Canucks, said after the loss in Calgary. “It hasn’t been very fun.”

— NHL.com

Line Combos and Starting Goalies:

Oilers (Cam Talbot):

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

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Jordan Oesterle – Griffin Reinhart
Darnell Nurse – Adam Pardy

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

Vancouver Canucks (Jacob Markstrom):

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Alex Burrows
Michael Zalewski – Markus Granlund – Jannik Hansen
Ronalds Kenins – Brendan Gaunce – Jake Virtanen
Emerson Etem – Bo Horvat – Derek Dorestt

Dan Hamhuis – Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton – Nikita Tryamkin
Matt Bartkowski – Alex Biega

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

NHL

Oilers vs Flames – One last BOA in the Old Barn

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (30-42-7, 67 pts. 4-6 in their last 10) vs Calgary Flames (32-40-6, 70 pts. 4-5-1 in their last 10)

Location: Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta

Time: 8:00 PM MT

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

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

As the Oilers and Flames are set to take the ice at Rexall place for the final time, many fans are reminiscing over the historic battles the two teams shared on Edmonton’s ice.

Tonight, the Oilers look to put that behind them as they prepare to play in their first game since Monday night. The way the end of the season has been set up for Edmonton has been less than favourable. With only three games in a week and a half, the team has had some time to get healthy for the last few games.

Adam Pardy returns to the lineup tonight, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is closing in on his return after suffering a concussion.

“It’s interesting,” said McLellan [on the teams long downtime]. “We whined and bitched about not having it and now we’re talking about having it. We had a rhythm going. Every second night for a month and a half we had that rhythm. We were able to rest. We were able to get a couple players healthy or at least healthy enough to play. We had two really good practices. How will we start, will we be rusty? I hope not. I don’t think there’s any reason why we should be. I think this is a good approach for us because if you happen to be lucky enough in the playoffs and win early and wait for another team to play, you’re usually taking four or five days off and you’ve got to be ready to play again. We’re trying to create those moments I guess, without being in the playoffs.”

 

The team can’t look to take any nights off despite the fact they are near the bottom of the league. These games the Oilers play between now and the end of the season will be important as it affects the way the team could look going into next season.

Zack Kassian, Iiro Pakarinen, Luke Gazdic, Adam Cracknell, Adam Pardy, Jordan Oeterle and Adam Clendening are all in need of new contracts, according to General Fanager.

Until next year, Calgary…

Predictions for tonight:

  1. Oilers win 5-2.
  2. McDavid scores a hattrick.
  3. There will be over 50 minutes in combined penalties tonight.

Flames Preview:
This is the final game the Flames and Oilers will play at Rexall Place, where Edmonton has a 54-43-9-6 regular-season record against its provincial rival. Calgary is 1-5-0 in its past six games and is coming off road losses to the Anaheim Ducks (8-3) and Los Angeles Kings during a midweek trip. “Just all around, it’s been a tough year for us in our own division,” forward Mikael Backlund said after the loss to the Kings on Thursday. Frolik (upper body) is out, but is expected to return when the Flames host the Kings on Tuesday. Gaudreau returned Thursday after missing two games with an upper-body injury. Goalie Joni Ortio, who made 26 saves against Los Angeles, is expected to start. Calgary reassigned defenseman Brett Kulak to Stockton of the American Hockey League on Friday; he played two games in March.

— NHL.com

Line Combos and Starting Goalies:

Oilers (Cam Talbot):

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

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Jordan Oesterle – Griffin Reinhart
Darnell Nurse – Adam Pardy

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

Calgary Flames (Joni Ortio):

Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Hunter Shinkaruk
Lance Bouma – Mikael Backlund – Joe Colborne
Micheal Ferland – Sam Bennett – Josh Jooris
Derek Grant – Matt Stajan – Brandon Bollig

TJ Brodie – Dougie Hamilton
Mark Giordano – Deryk Engelland
Jyrki Jokipakka – Jakub Nakladal

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

NHL

Oilers vs Ducks Preview – Nail wants out, Maroon returns to Anaheim

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (30-41-7, 67 pts. 4-6 in their last 10) vs Anaheim Ducks (41-23-10, 92 pts. 4-4-2 in their last 10)

Location: Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta

Time: 7:00 PM MT

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

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

 

Last night, it was released in the media that Nail Yakupov had asked for a trade from the Edmonton Oilers prior to this year’s trade deadline. This news didn’t come as a huge shocker, as it was quite apparent that the Oilers would look to move on from him this offseason.

While it may have not been a formal request for a trade, the Oilers did grant Yakupov’s agent Igor Larionov permission to seek other options. Larionov later said there were “six or seven” teams about Nail Yakupov.

It’s all foggy right now. I’m in a blur. As I had wrote on twitter last night, it’s disappointing to see a situation like this to occur. It’s never in anyone’s best interest for these trade talks to come out in the public but yet here we are.

After Nail had a fantastic rookie season that saw him produce 17 goals and 14 assists for a total of 31 points in the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season, I thought we were in for a treat.

Here came in with elite offensive talent with a rifle of a shot and the ability to fly around the ice. A few coaching staffs later, Nail could find himself on the out. Should a trade come, I hope Nail the best. He is a great young man and I am sure he will find his way in the NHL soon.

When the Oilers came into this three game California road trip, I thought that if the team were to go .500 and play tight in the games I would consider that successful. Heading into tonight’s matchup with the Anaheim Ducks, taking them to overtime would all it would need to take to make my hopes come true.

The Oilers undoubtedly struggled Saturday night against a high-powered LA Kings roster that is bound to make a deep playoff push. Now tonight, the team faces much of the same squaring off against a Anaheim Ducks team nipping at the heels of the LA Kings for the Western Conference lead.

Tonight, the Oilers hope can take down the Ducks with Cam Talbot behind the net. In three career games against the Ducks, he is 0-2-1 with a 2.01 GAA and a .939 sv%.

On top of that, Patrick Maroon will play his first game against his former team. Since his acquisition at the trade deadline, he has been a catalyst for the Oilers scoring 11 points in 12 games. Things have really clicked for the Big Rig in Edmonton since his arrival. His big body play has allowed for Connor McDavid and Jordan Eberle to get more space on the ice.

This was apparent during the games against the Sharks and the Kings in which he was able to score five points against those big teams. The fact that the Anaheim Ducks ate $500 000 worth of his $2 mil contract make this deal all the more sweet.

I wish there was an entire team of Patrick Maroons. That would be awesome. #SwoonForMaroon

Predictions for tonight:

  1. Maroon continues his point streak, notching 1G and 1A against his old team.
  2. Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl, who have slowed down as of late, accumulate for 3 points tonight.
  3. Cam Talbot doesn’t get the shutout, but he plays above his head like normal and keeps the Oilers in the game all night long.

Last games predictions: 

  1. Oilers win 3-2 in OT.
  2. Connor McDavid scores the game-winning goal.
  3. The Oilers come out and play a very physical game, and there are two fights in the game.

Ducks Preview:
Anaheim was off on Sunday and concludes a five-game road trip in Edmonton; they are 2-1-1 following a 4-3 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday in which they were down 3-0 in the third period. “Everyone stuck together,” defenseman Hampus Lindholm told the Ducks website. “[Getzlaf] had a little speech in the locker room [after the second period]. He had good words for us to get us going. We came out and played the way we should’ve from the start.” Anaheim has the League’s best power play at 23.7 percent and scored the winner with the man-advantage in overtime. “Every time our power play goes onto the ice, I think they’re going to have a chance to score,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. “That’s a good feeling. … We knew we had the rest of the game on the power play, so we wanted to take our time and make the right play.” The Ducks have clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and are three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand. Andersen started the past two games, so John Gibson could be in net.

— NHL.com

Line Combos and Starting Goalies:

Oilers (Laurent Brossoit):

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

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Jordan Oesterle – Griffin Reinhart
Darnell Nurse – Adam Clendening

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

Anaheim Ducks (John Gibson):

Brandon Pirri – Ryan Getzlaf – Chris Stewart
Jamie McGinn – Rickard Rakell – Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano – Shawn Horcoff – Jakob Silfverberg
Nick Ritchie – Nate Thompson – Ryan Garbutt

Cam Fowler – Korbinian Holzer
Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson
Clayton Stoner – Shea Theodore

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

Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Zach Laing

Oilers vs Kings Preview – Oilers must help LB to win

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (30-40-7, 67 pts. 5-5 in their last 10) at LA Kings (44-25-5, 93 pts. 6-3-1 in their last 10)

Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California

Time: 8:00 PM MT

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

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

After beating the San Jose Sharks in a huge 6-3 victory on Thursday night, the Oilers secured their first 30 win season since the 2011 – 2012 season when Tom Renney was behind the bench.

That season, the Oilers won 32 games, and finished the season with 74 points. Now with only five games to go before the season is finished, the Oilers sit with 67 points.

Tonight, the team looks to take on a Los Angeles team that has been been leading the Western Conference nearly all year. Laurent Brossoit gets the start tonight, and as it would be nice if he would be able to get some help from the offense:

In his five NHL starts, he has given up 15 goals, while the Oilers have only scored nine in front of him. This is not a knock against Brossoit by any means, but it shows the need for the team to play a tight hockey game in front of him. 

In order for the Oilers to come out of Los Angeles with two points, the team needs to play a tight hockey game. The Kings are simply the best in the west, and it has shown as they have beaten the Oilers in all four meetings this season. In the previous four games this season LA has outscored Edmonton 14 to eight.

In the past month since the last time the two teams met on Feb. 25, the Oilers have certainly become a different team after dealing Anders Nilsson, Justin Schultz and Teddy Purcell while acquiring Patrick “Big Rig” Maroon.

Maroon has come into the Oilers lineup and been a dynamic force on the ice. He plays the exact style of game that complements the likes of Connor McDavid and Jordan Eberle whom he has been playing with consistently as of late.

His three-assist performance against the Sharks Thursday night just shows his ability to play in a top-six role. He has got to be elated. 

When the Oilers came into this three game California road trip, I thought that if the team were to go .500 and play tight in the games I would consider that successful. 

Quotes from oilers.nhl.com.

Predictions for tonight:

  1. Oilers win 3-2 in OT.
  2. Connor McDavid scores the game-winning goal.
  3. The Oilers come out and play a very physical game, and there are two fights in the game.

Kings Preview:
Forward Vincent Lecavalier practiced Friday after he missed a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday with an undisclosed injury. There was no update provided on forward Kris Versteeg (foot), who has missed the past three games. The Kings have lost three straight since they clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff berth last Saturday. Los Angeles leads the Pacific Division by three points over the Anaheim Ducks, who have a game in hand. “These are games that we could have separated ourselves a little bit,” forward Jeff Carter told the Kings website. “We’ve got to get going here, we’re running out of games, you can’t get to the playoffs and then flip the switch, so we’ve got a lot of work to do here in the next couple weeks.”

— NHL.com

Line Combos and Starting Goalies:

Oilers (Laurent Brossoit):

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

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Jordan Oesterle – Griffin Reinhart
Darnell Nurse – Adam Clendening

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

LA Kings (Jonathan Quick): 

Tanner Pearson – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Milan Lucic – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Dwight King – Nic Dowd – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Nick Shore – Andy Andreoff

Brayden McNabb – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Alec Martinez
Rob Scuderi – Luke Schenn

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

Edmonton Oilers, G Money, NHL

Oilers at Sharks Preview – A classic Lottery vs Playoffs matchup

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (76 gp, 29-40-7, 65 pts, DFL in the Pacific Division, 4-6-0 in their last 10) at San Jose Sharks (73 gp, 41-26-6, 88 pts, 3rd in the Pacific Division, 6-4-0 in their last 10)
Location: SAP Centre, San Jose, CA
Time: 8:30 PM MT
Where to find it: TV: Sportsnet Oilers – Radio: 630 CHED

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

Hey, another 40 regulation loss season!

Coming off a hard-fought but seemingly inevitable loss to Bettman’s Pet Puppies, there are three interesting threads to tonight’s game:

  • How many scraps will Darnell Nurse be in?  The Sharks have brought up their minor league enforcer Mike Healey for the game, but with Nurse joined by Kassian, Maroon, Cracknell, and Reinhart, the Oilers have no shortage of thorned beef.
  • Will the Oilers finish in 30th?  Or can they scrape themselves out?
  • The Sharks can clinch a playoff spot with a win.

Nurse had this to say about the incident with Polak:

“It was a heat of the moment thing,” said Nurse. “Obviously, you don’t want to ever see guys hurt or anything like that. It was probably crossing the line, but it’s over now. You guys are worried about what’s going to happen tonight. We’ll see. Both teams are looking for wins, so I’m looking forward to going out there and playing.”

A good starting point for the Oilers would be to score a goal, which they were unable to do the last time they faced James Reimer, who gets the start.

The injury bug remains the story for the Oilers, as the Golden Nuge is once again on the shelf, this time with a mild concussion.

Jordan Oesterle and Griffin Reinhart had a terrific game against Arizona; the Sharks represent a major step up in competition, so it will be interesting to see if the two can achieve similarly good results tonight.

Nurse and Clenden were torched against the Yotes – don’t think we can reasonably expect better against the Sharks … but then again, Nurse will probably be on high alert the whole game, so what effect might that have on his overall game?

Cal-Bot 3000 (19-25-4, 2.51 GAA, 0.919 sv%, 3 SO) starts for the Oilers.  Expect a rough and tough game tonight, and Cam will need to be at the top of his game for the Oilers to have a chance.

GOILERS!

Nurse quote from oilers.nhl.com.

Oilers Projected Lineup (from LeftWingLock):

Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl -Zack Kassian

Lauri Korpikoski – Mark Letestu – Nail Yakupov

Matt Hendricks – Adam Cracknell – Iiro Pakarinen

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne

Griffin Reinhart – Jordan Oesterle

Darnell Nurse – Adam Clendening

Sharks Projected Lineup (from FearTheFin):

Tomas Hertl – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski

Melker Karlsson – Logan Couture – Joonas Donskoi

Patrick Marleau – Chris Tierney – Joel Ward

Dainius Zubrus – Nick Spaling – Tommy Wingels

Paul Martin – Brent Burns

Dylan DeMelo – Justin Braun

Brenden Dillon – Roman Polak

Fancy Stats Bonus Material:

OilersNerdAlert player dashboards for the Oilers and Sharks (click to embiggen – click here for an explanation of how to read this chart).  Damn these Sharks are dangerous, and Jumbo Joe is ridiculously good – period – never mind “for his age”.