Tag Archives: stars

Edmonton Oilers, Zach Laing

Oilers vs Stars – A Duel in Dallas

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TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (19-24-5) at Dallas Stars (29-13-5)

Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

Time: 6:30 PM MT

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

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

The old line blender has been roaring, as Todd McLellan looks to get the Oilers shored up defensively as they prepare to take on the high scoring Dallas Stars.

“It’s not just about moving Benny into the middle, it’s what I want to see from the team,” he said. “It’s a very dynamic offensive team Dallas has. They have a tendency to gain on teams here at home as far as (line) matching goes. We moved some people around to maybe take care of others on other lines… We’ll see what we get out of the movement of players.”

The lines feature Rob Kilnkhammer as the second line LW, and Benoit Pouliot sliding into the middle of the ice.

“I’ll be ready for it,” said Pouliot of tonight’s challenge. “It’s a lot different than playing wing, that’s for sure. You’ve got more stuff to worry about than if you’re a winger, but at the same time it keeps you on your game and keeps you focused the whole time. You get involved more with the puck and down low.”

Pouliot has taken 23 faceoffs this season, and won 13 of them.

Tonight’s game will prove to be an interesting one as each team has won one of the two matchups this season. On October 13th, Dallas won 4-2 thanks to Jason Spezza’s game winner, while the Oilers pulled out a 2-1 OT victory on December 4th thanks to a Jordan Eberle goal.

The Oilers are trying to fight through a weird stretch, where the team is without top centers Connor McDavid or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who just had surgery on his injured hand.

Matt Henderson at OilersNation had a really good piece today suggesting that Connor McDavid is in fact, 100% healthy and ready to go.

It is certainly not a bad thing that the Oilers are keeping McDavid on the sidelines, as the team has historically brought guys back from injury a bit too soon.

The Tony Romo situation with the Dallas Cowboys this year is a good example of taking your time with injuries.

Predictions for tonight:

  1. Rob Klinkhammer has a good game on the 2nd line, and sees some time on the Penalty Kill.
  2. Zack Kassian and Antoine Rousell fight. Rousell has historically gotten under the skin of the Hall and Eberle amongst others.
  3. Oilers win 3-2.

 

The Otherside:

Dallas begins a three-game homestand trying to rediscover the moxie it took into the Christmas break. The Stars lost to the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in a shootout on Dec. 26; that started a stretch that has seen them go 3-6-3, including 0-5-3 on the road. “We have to work hard to turn around this thing,” forward Ales Hemsky, one of the goal scorers in a 3-2 loss Tuesday to the Los Angeles Kings, told the Stars website. “I think we did a little better job but we still have to play 60 minutes and battle hard, be comfortable playing those tight games. It’ll be tight games to the end. We’ll not see too many open games and it’ll be tough to score goals. So we just have to put everything in the net and play better.” Dallas entered play Wednesday leading the NHL with 154 non-shootout goals, but is averaging 2.58 goals over its past 12 games as compared to 3.51 over its first 35 games. – nhl.com

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

Oilers (Cam Talbot):

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

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Darnell Nurse – Eric Gryba
Brandon Davidson – Justin Schultz

Dallas Stars (Antti Niemi):

Antoine Rousell – Mattias Janmark – Ales Hemsky
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Sharp
Valeri Nichushkin – Cody Eakin – Jason Spezza
Colton Sceviour – Vern Fiddler – Patrick Eaves

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberk
Johnny Oduya – Jason Demers
Esa Lindell – Jyrki Jokipakka

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

 

Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Zach Laing

Oilers vs Stars Preview – Can the Oilers come back strong after a win against the B’s?

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (9-15-2) vs Dallas Stars (20-5-1)

Location: Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta

Time: 7:00 PM MT

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

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

McLellan’s praise train keeps a rolling. Today, McLellan dropped some great praise on a young Jujhar Khaira.

“I knew from exhibition, from training camp, that he had a good awareness of how to use his size,” said McLellan. “It was whether he could use that size at a pace that was going to be effective and he’s showed that he can. I think there is more in his game as we move forward. He’s just still trying to get his feet wet. He’s excited about being here. Positionally, he’s been in the right spot many times and when the puck is around him, he’s bigger, he’s stronger. I recall a moment in Pittsburgh where I don’t think he was looking to finish a check, but somebody bounced off him. It’s nice to have that heaviness.”

Yesterday, I wrote about Khaira’s first three games and where he could fit in long term so it’s nice to hear it coming from McLellan himself.

Tonight’s matchup with the Stars is the second of three this year. The teams last met on October 13th, and although Connor McDavid scored his 1st NHL goal, the team lost 4-2.

After coming off of a good win against a red-hot Bruins team who had won five in a row prior to Wednesday’s loss, the Oilers need to rebound strong against the top team in the league. The Stars are good. Like, really good.

They score at the top rate in the league (3.5 goals per game) and only allow 2.58 goals against per game. As McLellan said today, “You don’t stop Dallas, you try to limit them. We’ll need to be puck sound, positionally sound, we’ll need to play a very smart game to have a chance at success.”

Limiting a team like Dallas is no easy task as their team is deep. Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp make up the key components of their top six. I don’t know how it is possible to limit a group like that, so it will be interesting to see the tactics deployed by the Oilers coaching staff.

Walter Foddis’ Pregame Metrics:

The Otherside:

Dallas, which is tied with the Montreal Canadiens for the NHL lead in goals (91), appears to have found another offensive option with Valeri Nichushkin moved up to play with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Nichushkin had a goal and an assist in his first game on the top line, a 4-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. Patrick Sharp, who was dropped from the top line, scored the game-winning goal on a pretty solo rush of his own. Goalie Kari Lehtonen said the Stars’ League-leading offense allows them to be better on defense. “We have so many great forwards, one of them is going to have a great night every night, so they can now think more about defense,” he said. Antti Niemi is expected to start after Lehtonen returned from a neck injury to play against the Canucks. Ruff could also re-insert defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka in the second half of back-to-back games for either Jamie Oleksiak or Patrik Nemeth. – nhl.com

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


Oilers (Anders Nilsson):

Stars (Antti Niemi): 

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

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDbEX666G3Y]

 

Edmonton Oilers, Kris Hansen

The BLH Oilers Weekly Round Up Oct 11th-Oct 17th

 

Alright so second week of the Edmonton Oilers season was underway and we ended up with a 1-2-0 record.

It is a tough schedule to be playing against teams like St. Louis and Dallas, but low and behold we have our first victory of the season against the Calgary Flames!

The Edmonton Oilers Three Stars of the Week

3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 

Nuge has been great on both ends of the ice. He tallied a nice goal right on the rebound last night against Calgary and has shown some really impressive back checking ability. Easily our best defensive forward, Nugent-Hopkins looked very comfortable with Taylor Hall on his left side.

2. Taylor Hall

Hall was our second best forward this week. He scored a crucial goal on a nice individual effort against St Louis and tallied a goal and two assists against Calgary. He was one of our most dangerous forwards in both those games.

1. Connor McDavid

Honestly, who else would it have been? The kid had his breakout game in a rival’s home turf. He silenced the boo birds very quickly. He started shooting the puck and ended up with two goals and one assist against Calgary last night. His assist was nice too: working deep behind the net and he just finds Pouliot wide open (who in turns passes it to Yakupov for his first goal of the year). Then there was the move he did on Hiller, on boy. Hiller made a great desperation save and if McDavid rose that puck, he would have had a hat trick and the goal of the year. It’s scary how good this kid is and we finally got a glimmer of what is to come for this amazing young man. He also scored his first career goal in a stinker against Dallas.

 

Edmonton Oilers News and Rumors 

 

 

Interesting that Doug Armstrong was in the pressbox scouting the Flames and Oilers. It’s very interesting. Blues have had a good start to the season while both Edmonton and Calgary have struggled out of the gate.

Also interesting to note, despite being sent down to the AHL, Nikitin and Scrivens have not played a game yet for the Condors. It’s been debunked as Visa issues, but all is quiet right now.

Around The League

 

Highlights

Re-watch the Oilers win over Calgary many times over

 

McDavid’s effort + Hiller’s desperation save = Golden Highlight

 

Colton Parayko’s shot made a nice mark on the glass

 

Hall’s beautiful back hander on Elliot

 

McDavid scored his first career goal against Dallas

 

The Week Ahead

The Oilers have four games this week: Sunday in Vancouver and two home games: Wednesday vs Detroit and Friday vs Washington.

That’s your weekly round up for this week!

Follow me on Twitter! 

 

 

Jack Gruninger, NHL

15-16 Season Primers: The Dallas Stars

Welcome back to Season Primers, today we’re going to look at the Dallas Stars. The Stars had a disappointing season, missing the playoffs despite adding Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky to their roster last off-season. The decline was mostly due to poor goaltending, with starting goalie Kari Lehtonen posting only a .903 SV%, backup goalie Anders Lindback posting a .875 SV%, and other backup goalie Jhonas Enroth putting up a .906 SV%. The Stars addressed this by adding former Sharks starter Antti Niemi. The Stars also landed Patrick Sharp via trade, and added Johnny Oduya through free agency.

Key Additions: LW Patrick Sharp, LD Johnny Oduya, RD Stephen Johns, G Antti Niemi

Key Subtractions: C Shawn Horcoff, LW Ryan Garbutt, LD Trevor Daley, G Jhonas Enroth

If I’m a Stars fan, I’m excited about this season. This team has made improvements in every position. Up front, Sharp will provide more offense than Ryan Garbutt. On defense, Johnny Oduya replaces defensive disaster Trevor Daley:

In net, Antti Niemi replaces Enroth and creates some competitions for Kari Lehtonen.

The Stars also added a promising young defender through the Patrick Sharp trade in Stephen Johns, who has a chance to crack the roster.

Projected Lineup (All Players Healthy):
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Valeri Nichushkin
Patrick Sharp – Jason Spezza – Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Brett Ritchie
Travis Moen – Vernon Fiddler – Patrick Eaves
Colton Sceviour

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya – Jason Demers
Jordie Benn – Jyrki Jokipakka
Patrik Nemeth
Jamie Oleksiak

Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi

Roster Contenders: C Radek Faksa, C Travis Morin, LW Curtis McKenzie, LW Brendan Ranford, LD Esa Lindell, LD Mattias Backman, LD Ludwig Bystrom, RD Stephen Johns, RD Julius Honka

This is a really good roster, up front the Stars are led by the tandem of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, who are obviously very good players. Valeri Nichushkin was injured for most of the 2014-15 season but will now look to bounce back, he could excel on that top line. The second line could also be very good, with the veteran trio of Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza, and Ales Hemsky. Brett Ritchie replaces Ryan Garbutt on the third line alongside Roussel and Eakin, a duo that have shown very good chemistry. Moen, Fiddler, and Eaves form a solid 4th line.

On defence, there is a good mixture of offense and defense in the top 4, with Goligoski and Klingberg being good offensive defencemen and Oduya and Demers being reliable defensively. There will be quite a bit of competition for a spot on that third pairing, with the defensemen I have on the roster plus a bunch of young defencemen in the system clamoring for a spot. I have the underappreciated Jordie Benn along with Jyrki Jokipakka, who quite possibly has the best name ever.

Finally, in goal, Lehtonen and Niemi should be a reliable tandem. They will be the key to the Stars’ success this season.

As mentioned, the Stars have great defensive depth with a lot of good prospects in the system, but the depth at forward and goal isn’t as great. I think it’s quite possibly that Dallas looks at trading someone like Jamie Oleksiak for a younger forward.

All in all, I expect that Dallas will make the playoffs this season, and could be another top 9 forward and a little bit of time away from being a cup contender. If Dallas fails to make the playoffs, it could mean the end of Lindy Ruff’s time there as a coach.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the other parts of the “Season Primers” series:
Anaheim Ducks
Arizona Coyotes
Carolina Hurricanes
Colorado Avalanche
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars