One more Win and WE’RE GOING STREAKING!!!
The Oilers have picked up points in 4 of their last 5 games and while they sit in 30th place again this morning, they are somehow only 5 points out of a Playoff spot (thank you Garbage fire Pacific Division). They haven’t given up the most goals in the West. They don’t have the lowest amount of Wins in the West.
The season certainly feels more lost than it actually is. Some continued strong play from Nilsson and a little good news on the injury front could really keep the Oilers’ season alive longer than it has any right to be.
Injuries are absolutely killing the Oilers right now. It’s in vogue at the moment to pile on about how terrible the team is, but they are running on a skeleton crew of actual NHLers. Per mangameslost.com the Oilers are 2nd in the NHL with 99 man-games lost to injury. The only team more injured is the Sabres who are visiting tonight.
For the Oilers, the injuries have been catastrophic offensively. They are missing the entire line of Pouliot-McDavid-Yakupov.
Kane-Anisimov-Panarin are the best line in hockey & score 3.90 5v5 GF/60
Pouliot-McDavid-Yak all on IR score at 3.89/60 together
We wait
— Woodguy (@Woodguy55) December 6, 2015In addition to those three, the Oilers lost Eberle to start the year and potentially again for this game as he blocked a shot against the Stars on Friday that needed an X-Ray the following morning. Davidson was injured a short time ago but might be able to come back today. Justin Schultz only recently returned to injury though he’s clearly not back up to speed yet. And, not that it matters, but Ference was placed on IR too.
That’s a lot of potential difference makers out of the lineup or hobbled. Edmonton has been relying on Nilsson the past couple of games, and they will need to keep doing that until the full lineup gets on the ice potentially some time in January. When it happens it will be the first time the optimal lineup will be on the ice in Oiler silks all year.
LINEUP
The Oilers officially placed Benoit Pouliot and Andrew Ference on IR. Ference presumably injured his Press Box hand or tweaked his Healthy Scratch tendon. Davidson is ready to come back from injury but Fayne may be scratched tonight. The defense is up in the air. If Eberle cant play then Hamilton may be in the lineup tonight.
Hall Draisaitl Eberle Pakarinen RNH Purcell Korpikoski Letestu Hendricks Gazdic Lander Khaira
Nurse Sekera Klefbom Davidson Gryba Schultz
Nilsson
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Eichel Doesn’t Care About McDavid. He has made it abundantly clear since he arrived in the NHL that he doesn’t really care about McDavid or what he does. That’s good for the young man who will always be number 2 behind McDavid in the eyes of most. Even though he doesn’t care, others might be interested in knowing that Eichel just passed McDavid in Rookie scoring. McDavid has 12 points in 13 games. Eichel has 13 points in 26 games. Even though he isn’t lighting the league on fire, his skill is obvious. He possesses a dangerous release and I’m sure it would feel great to sick it to Edmonton.
2) Situational Awareness. The game against the Stars had a positive outcome but overall the team was thoroughly outplayed. Worse than being outshot in general was the fact that within the first 3 minutes the Oilers had allowed Seguin and Benn to both have separate point blank chances on partial breakaways. Fayne was given the pylon treatment by Seguin on a particularly bad sequence. The Oilers were not ready for what everybody knew was coming. That has to be remedied.
3) Neon Leon. It didn’t result in a goal, but Leon Draisaitl made an incredible play driving wide and holding off the Stars by controlling the puck at stick length away from his body as he put himself between the puck and the defenders. He also set up the game winner with some spectacular vision. The point pace has slowed down a bit, but Draisaitl keeps showing the qualities that made him the 3rd Overall pick in 2014. His creativity and offense is only part of the equation. The other quality he had was the size to match up against the West. If he can keep using that physicality he is only going to be more effective.
Puck drops tonight at 6 PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet. Get Better, Connor! Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy