Yesterday I wrote about RNH and Eberle not scoring and expecting some rust on Bachman. RNH went on to score a Hat-Trick, Eberle scored for the first time in a month, and Richard Bachman finished the night with an .824 save percentage. I haven’t determined whether or not I will use my new found powers for good or for awesome yet, but my topics to cover for the week will be “Why haven’t I won the lottery yet?…, “Scarlett Johansson, will she marry me?…, and “The Importance of Having Oscar Klefbom’s Abs….
Before I even think of moving on, that game yesterday was putrid from beginning to end for the Oilers. Even as they jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead, it seemed like it was all a mirage. The team was being severely out-shot, out-chanced-, and out-possessed by the Hurricanes. I understand letting the foot off the gas after going up by 3, but the reality is they were only up by 3 because Cam Ward is a terrible goalie.
After the first Carolina was already up in shot attempts 26-12. In the 2nd they again went 27-12 in attempts. Then, in the 3rd, it was finally a closer (but still sad) 18-12. The 3rd was particularly heartbreaking to watch because they started tied at 3-3 in goals. They had ample time to pull themselves together and come up with an effort to win the game and instead gave up 4 more goals.
But I guess if Tanking was easy then everybody would be doing it.
Edmonton still has the least amount of Wins in the entire NHL despite being ahead of the Sabres in Points. Leafs fans want to believe that they have a shot at the race to the bottom but in reality they’re probably as low as they’re going to get in the standings. There are 10 points separating the Leafs and the Oilers today and just 16 games left in the season. I don’t think it’s happening Leafs Nation. Sorry.
The Oilers, on the other hand, haven’t won a game without Petry in their lineup this year and have a much more difficult schedule. There are 4 points between Edmonton and last place Buffalo and they were so tired of looking over their shoulder and seeing the Oilers that they traded both their starting goalies. This club puts real fear in the hearts of teams that TRY to tank.
Ben Scrivens will go back in net and if he can perform as well as he did in his last game then the Oilers will at least have a fighting chance. The ups and downs of this team are hard to get a handle on. Yesterday afternoon was not a high point for most of the team but the one thing I’ve been able to cling to is that Nelson has been able to get them bouncing back after bad performances.
LINEUP
Anton Lander gets back into game action tonight and we are assuming that Pouliot might be well enough to play. That gives Edmonton back 2 players that it sorely missed yesterday afternoon. The Oilers should be back to 4 regular centers and Lander also averages about 1:45 on the PP where he’s comfortable in Nelson’s system. With Scrivens also coming back in they should also get a boost. Pouliot might draw in on the top line again but with RNH and Eberle scoring yesterday they might want to keep Purcell up there. Pouliot is still going to be a game time decision.
Purcell RNH Eberle Pouliot Roy Yak Hendricks Gordon Klinkhammer Gazdic Lander Fraser
Klefbom Schultz Marincin Fayne Ference Oesterle
Scrivens
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Scrivus Saves. I’m hoping this is the path back to respectability for Ben Scrivens. This season is one I’m sure he’d like to forget, but there are signs of life. In 4 of his last 5 games he has posted save percentages above .900 and if we go back a little further the he’s done it in 7 of the last 10 games. Over those 10 games he’s has a .913 save percentage. In the last 5 he has had a .927 save percentage. That’s a short period of time, but he’s at least trending upwards.
2) The Datsyukian One. Is there any way that you can effectively relate how impressive Pavel Datsyuk is? I don’t think so but I’ll try. He’s the player I want Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to most resemble when he reaches his prime. Pavel Datsyuk is smart, creative, and defensively responsible. I have no doubts that he has the ability to be well above his current point production (which is still very good) but isn’t because he sacrifices for defense. Datsyuk has the 2nd best raw Corsi For percentage in the entire NHL at 59.5%.
3) Smothered. That percentage for Datsyuk is largely driven by his crazy low Corsi Against/60 of 40.97. Detroit has the top 5 players in CA/60 so we can assume their team defense and systems are driving these numbers rather than say Detroit just simply having the 5 best players in the league at shot suppression. They are rated the number 2 team in the NHL in possession but they aren’t generating lots of shot attempts for so much as they take a pillow to the face of the game and smother it. They are 24th in Shot Attempts For (Edmonton is 25th) but number 1 with a bullet in Corsi Against.
Puck drops tonight at 5:38 PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Tank On!
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