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Oilers vs Stars in OKC

September 27, 2013, 11:53 AM ET [328 Comments]
Matt Henderson
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Tonight’s game features a few story lines of interest to the Oilers and their fans. There’s the homecoming of sorts for the young (and a little older) Oilers who plied their trade in Oklahoma City during the lockout and beyond, there’s the draft day follow ups as we get a look at Valeri Nichushkin for the first time, but there are a few story lines we won’t get to see play out. The Taylor/Tyler matchup will not come to a head tonight as Seguin will be rested and the same goes for Shawn Horcoff as well.

A Homecoming

This game will be played neither in Dallas nor Edmonton but in Oklahoma City, which should be a great boost to the local fans who have supported Edmonton’s farm club Barons. This is the place that Hall, Eberle, RNH, and Schultz called home during the lockout before returning back up to the NHL. For them they return to a place to which they likely had no intentions of ever returning. Now though, they can appreciate the charm and appeal of OKC without the bitter taste of the lockout ruining it all.

For Mark Arcobello it’s surely a different feeling. He is playing on his home ice, the place he has lived and worked for the last 3 years. Now instead of leading the Barons down the middle in a quest to make the NHL, he comes in having made the Oilers squad. He should be very excited tonight. He no doubt has taken this opportunity to bring in the many friends he made in OKC to tonight’s game. A hero’s send off as he is about to go on the most exciting journey of his hockey life.

Draft Day What Ifs

Craig MacTavish has given us a lot to talk about in the short time he has been the GM of the Oilers. Unlike the previous regime he is unafraid to let us in on the thought process or motivations for his actions (or inactions). One of those talking points was the 7th overall pick. This year the Oil opted for Darnell Nurse, who looked fantastic in preseason action against professionals. There is little reason to dampen our hopes and expectations for the young man, but MacTavish let it be known that big Russian winger Valeri Nichushkin was their next choice.

Now the Oilers get the chance to see Nichushkin live in action. The big Russian, who stands 6’4” at 202lbs, has played in 5 preseason games so far and scored 3 goals. He’s shooting the lights out at 18.8% while only playing 13:24 per game. I’ve only been able to see a few highlights but it looks like he’s come as advertised, hulking size and baby soft hands.

Of course this isn’t a point of contention with anybody anymore (or it shouldn’t be) but the Oilers will not get the chance to revisit the Taylor vs Tyler days. It’s too bad because the two would get to go head to head in the same position. Each would be centering the top lines of their respective clubs but, alas, it was not meant to be. Surely Hall has done enough now that Oiler fans know the club chose correctly but it would have been a fun story line anyway. We can keep it for another day.

The Captain

Horcoff is also out of the lineup for today. One would think that they did this as a favour to him, opting to have him play yesterday instead of tonight. Now the first time he will play the Oilers will be November 13th at Rexall. Maybe he wanted the 1st time he played his old club to be in front of his old home crowd. The way the home crowd has treated Horc in the past, that may not have been that wise of a decision. We shall see.

The Lineups

The Oilers will get their last chance to tweak the lineup. Belov and Larsen will get their last chances to prove which one should be playing beside Nick Schultz on opening night, and Eakins has just this one last game to go before he officially gets his 1st game in. The Stars are opting to go without Benn, Seguin, Horcoff, Whitney, and several others in this game that will be against almost the Oilers opening night roster. It should be a bit of a bloodbath.

Oilers are going with:

Smyth - Hall - Hemsky
Joensuu - Arcobello - Eberle
Perron - Gordon - Yakupov
MacIntyre - Acton - Brown

Belov - J. Schultz
Smid - Petry
N. Schultz - Larsen

Dubnyk

The Stars are countering with:

MacDermid - Eakin - Nichuskin
Garbutt - Fiddler - Ritchie
Roussel - Mueller - Sceviour
Gazdic - Morin - Smith

Connauton - Oleksiak
Dillon - Fortunus
Nemeth - Jokipakka

Lehtonen played for them last night so we should expect Ellis in tonight. If you looked at the Stars lineup and said “Who?” a lot, you weren’t alone. I am disappointed that the Stars are not yet down to their opening night roster, but they had games on back-to-back nights. The Oilers seem to have faced weak lineups for the entire preseason. It looks like they wont really be tested until opening night.

The game will be Broadcast online at edmontonoilers.com so buckle up, we’re likely in for a ride. Puck drops at 6:08 PM, Game On!

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