I have been waiting three months for tonight's battle between the Buffalo Sabres and the Edmonton Oilers. The Sabres have stabbbed westward to British Columbia and Alberta on a fracking mission.
Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.
Sabres owner Terry Pegula made his billions by having repeated success in the fracking industry.
Tonight is the first time in a long time that Sabres and Oilers are facing off while both teams are holding on to a playoff berth.
The Sabres are currently 8th in the Eastern Conference standings with 32 points while the Oilers are third in the West with 38 points.
Its a head to head match between two offensively gifted teams that have improved in their defensive play this season.
This one has all the ear markings to be a good old fashioned barn burner.
With 39 points, the Oilers hold the top spot in the Pacific Division.
Leon Draisaitl and McDavid are first and second in NHL scoring with 53 and 52 points, respectively. Draisaitl and McDavid are also one and two in League assists, with 34 (Draisaitl) and 33 (McDavid).
Edmonton is 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and 8-4-2 on home ice.
On Saturday afternoon, the Sabres suffered a heart breaking 6-5 OT loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Sabres dropped a 4-3 decison to the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Tonight’s game is the third in a three-game road trip through Western Canada for the Sabres. Buffalo is 13-7-4 against the Pacific Division since the beginning of last season, including a 3-2-3 record in 2019-20.
The Sabres are 26-40-11 all-time against the Oilers, however, are 11-6-1 against Edmonton since 2005-06 and 4-2-0 against them in the last three seasons.
The Sabres are driven by captain Jack Eichel, who chipped in two assists against Vancouver.
Eichel enters the Oilers game on a career-best 12-game point streak that began on November 16. Eichel's 10 goals and 12 assists during the streak leads the NHL during that period of time.
Eichel’s streak is the longest active point streak in the NHL and the longest by a Sabre since Tim Connolly erupted for points in 16 straight games from December 23, 2009 to January 25, 2010.
Eichel’s scoring production through 30 games currently has him on pace to finish the season with 49 goals and 112 points, which would be the highest goal and point totals by a Sabre since Pat LaFontaine (53G,95A) and Alexander Mogilny (76G,51A) in 1992-93.
LaFontaine (83) and Mogilny (78) in 1992-93 are the only two Sabres ever to have recorded more even-strength points in a season than the 77 Eichel is currently on pace for.
Eichel has recorded 11 multi-point games this season, tying for eighth-most in the NHL at the conclusion of yesterday’s game.
Eichel has scored 5G,4A in seven career games against Edmonton.
Eichel's next point earned will be the 300th of his NHL career.
The difference with the Sabres offense this season is that Eichel isn't having to score all the egoals by himself. For the first time in a long time, Eichel is getting by with a little help from his friends.
Jeff Skinner has 11 goals this season, all of which have come at even strength.
Swedish Sniper Victor Olofsson leads all NHL rookies with 12 goals this season and ranks second among rookies with 28 points.
Olofsson has scored 6G,10A in his last 15 games, including two-point performances in each of the team’s last three games.
Olofsson is the first Sabres rookie to record three straight multi-point games since Tyler Ennis did so from January 15 to 20, 2011.
The last Sabres rookie to record at least four consecutive multi-point games was Ales Kotalik, who did it in four straight games from January 3 to 10, 2003.
Sam Reinhart’s 11 goals in 30 games put him on pace for a career-high goal total (30). Reinhart is playing on an expiring contract and will be a restricted free agent in July 2020. At this rate, Reinhart is going to get paid handsomely.
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen enters tonight's game with 1G,5A points during his current five game scoring streak. It is his first five-game streak since January 18 to 25, 2018 (1G,5A). With a point tonight, Ristolainen will tie his career-best six straight games with a point from February 12 to 25, 2017 (6 assists).
Buffalo keeper Linus Ullmark is 7-6-2 with a .914 save percentage and 2.94 GAA.
Two first year head coaches have guided their respective teams to winning culture.
Sabres head coach Ralph Kreuger will be making his triumphant return to Edmonton. Kreuger was the head coach of the Oilers in the lock out shortened season in 2012-13. Kreuger will be opposed by Dave Tippett, who has a history of building winning hockey programs on his NHl resume.
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