The Oilers ended their final Road trip with a win against the Coyotes that vaulted them past the Panthers and into 28th place in the NHL. Just as we suggested the Oil played a strong possession game and were probably a tougher opponent than the Coyotes anticipated. It was inevitable that Edmonton would eventually win a game playing the way they have been.
Tonight they kick off their final week of the season and the final game of the 3 games in 10 days with the Ducks. The Oil have really pushed the Ducks in this mini-series winning the 1st game and losing the 2nd because of a late collapse. I expect the Oil will want to keep pushing the play on Anaheim and things could get pretty physical again.
LOOKING AT WINNIPEG
Eyebrows were raised by a few when the Jets decided to make Evander Kane a Healthy Scratch in last night's game. Kane is having a difficult year, to be sure, but the former 4th Overall pick is still a quality player. So when his coach decided to sit him in a game that had big implications on their standing in the League the speculation started to mount.
Kane's Shooting Percentage is 2 points lower than his career average and his PDO (the combination of on ice shooting percentage and save percentage that regresses heavily to 100) is 98.0. We're talking about a player who isnt getting the bounces at all and the narratives are being set for him.
In addition to some poor luck his off-ice decisions have been questioned in the Peg. The rumour was that he was out partying the night before the game (I'm sure it's never happened before in the history of Hockey) and Maurice was unimpressed. There's also an alleged assault that took place in BC that he is being sued about that was reported not long ago.
So is Kane available? And would the Oilers be interested?
We dont know if he is available but he's young, having a bad year luck wise, and his act might be wearing thin on management. It's these kinds of seasons where teams make poor decisions on their young talent.
If he is available then I dont know how the Oilers wouldnt be interested. He's young, 6'2", shoots a ton (238 shots), and plays a physical game (168 hits). He is also on the right side of 50% for his Corsi share. Keep in mind for those shot and hit totals he's only played 60 games. These are the stats Edmonton will be most interested in if they want to change the makeup of their 2nd line.
LINEUPS
Pitlick is drawing back into the lineup and Klefbom is out. Larsen is no longer needed to play forward which is good because he will be needed on the backend. Fasth is going to play against his former team.
Hall RNH Eberle Lander Gagner Perron Smyth Gordon Pinnizotto Hendricks Acton Pitlick
Belov Schultz Marincin Petry Fraser Larsen
Fasth
OILERS KEYS THE GAME
1) Keep Going. 3 quality road games where they pushed the play and hung in there with good teams needs to translate into home games.
2) Belovin It. Belov has great splits when he's playing with quality players. He was a star in the KHL but here he looks like a complimentary player. There's nothing wrong that. I think there's a good chance he performs well with Jultz.
3) Get Ready For A Physical Game. One of the memories of the last game against the Ducks was Marincin getting plastered by Getzlaf. The series with Anaheim has been physical and the Oil need to be prepared for a punch in the mouth.
Puck drops tonight at 6:00PM Mountain Time on TSN. Game On!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy