The Oilers are all set to take on the Vancouver Canucks tonight in CBC's double header game for Hockey Night in Canada. The Oilers and the Canucks both will be attempting to come back from dificult losses. Vancouver lost their opening game 4-1 as they seemed to struggle adjusting to the new voice behind their bench. Edmonton lost their game 5-4 thanks to a poor outing from Devan Dubnyk.

Yesterday the team received the wonderful news that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would be ready to play on Monday night. While that is a relief for the rest of October, it still leaves the team thin down the middle for this game. The Oilers will need to survive with Arcobello still holding a feature position on the roster. The Oklahoma City Baron looked relatively competent last game but notably lacked NHL calibre finish. If he wants to make the roster decisions difficult for Eakins then Arcobello really needs to show well tonight.

Dubnyk has the most to prove as far as the regulars go. He has always been prone to the boneheaded goals every once in a while, but not 3 or 4 in a single game. I think we all know that he's capable of playing some excellent hockey for the Oilers. He just needs to do it. The Oilers kept the Jets to 6 and 7 shots in the 1st and 3rd periods but they managed 2 goals in each. When his team is keeping the chances down he needs to do his part.

Eakins also needs to find a way to get Yakupov more involved in the game. Yak had the fewest 2nd period minutes of any forward on the team. It's difficult to score from the bench but I think the slight line combination changes Eakins has made is going to benefit Yakupov. The young Russian is now playing with David Perron. The new partnership will hopefully combine Perron's 2 way ability and vision around the net with Yakupov's deadly shot.

Lineups

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

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

Dubnyk

The Canucks are without Burrows so their lineup looks a little different than usual.

D. Sedin - H. Sedin - Hansen
Booth - Kesler - Higgins
Weise - Richardson - Santorelli
Sestito - Dalpe - Alberts

Hamhuis - Bieksa
Edler - Garrison
Tanev - Stanton

Luongo

Help is on the way but it hasn't arrived yet. The Oilers need to build on the success they've had against the Canucks dating from last season through preseason to now. Luongo has been pumped for some pretty high goal totals in his last couple of starts against Edmonton. Yakupov used Roberto as his jumping board to the top of Rookie Scoring last year. What does this season have in store for the Canucks/Oilers rivalry.

Puck drops at 8:10PM on CBC. Game On!

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