Hey everyone, thanks for the kind words as I was on hiatus again... I spent the past four days in Toronto for work and I tried to get a blog out while I was in the airport and sadly could not finish it. Thanks for your support and definitely not screaming to the sky that this team needs a new blogger.

Edmonton had an impressive comeback win on Saturday against the New York Rangers in a game where it very easily could (and almost should have) been 5-0. I missed the first two periods but was able to catch the third after landing... you're welcome, because that was when the fun began.

Evan Bouchard notched his first two goals of the season, the McLeod-Holloway-Foegele line was rolling with McLeod notching three assists and Dylan Holloway tied the game up with his first NHL goal. Top it off with a Leon Draisaitl PP goal as well as a great clip of him knocking Trouba's stick out of his hands afterwards and it ended up being a fun and memorable day for Oil Country. It is a whole bunch better than writing about how the team went 0-3 on their roadtrip.

That being said that is still almost exactly what happened and this team still has too many question marks and passengers to be considered a legitimate contender. There are numerous issues right now; the defense, the goaltending, the secondary scoring. One of the surprising issues is the simple fact that Edmonton's best players have not been their best players.

Over the past two weeks the Oilers have played 5 games... without looking who do you think leads the Oilers in 5 on 5 goals in that time... it's Evan Bouchard with 2 goals... the two that he scored in one game. After that you have Hyman, RNH, Draisaitl, Foegele, and Holloway who have each scored 1. That is it for scoring at 5 on 5.

As for 5 on 5 assists? Ryan McLeod leads the team with 3...again the 3 that he scored in one game. After that RNH, Murray, and Puljujarvi all have 2, followed by Nurse, Ceci, and Foegele each with one. The one name that we have not seen on any of these lists is Connor McDavid. The Oilers captain has 1 goal and 3 assists in the last 5 games but none at 5 on 5. 4 points in 5 games for most other players is a heater... for the Oilers captain it is an area of concern.

To make matters worse injuries continue to pile up. Yamamoto has officially been placed on the IR and is reportedly dealing with head and neck issues that occurred in the pre-season. We thought that Warren Foegele might miss a game or two after going down awkwardly against the Rangers but Ryan McLeod has now been placed on the IR. We don't know exactly what his injury is as reporters close to the team have said they were surprised to hear that and even saw McLeod walking around in good spirits.

Tyler Benson and James Hamblin have been recalled and we should expect to see both in the game tonight. This is just my guess on what the lineup could look like:

Holloway-McDavid-Hyman
Foegele-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi
Janmark-RNH-Kostin
Benson-Hamblin-Ryan

Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Barrie
Broberg-Bouchard

Skinner

Holloway had his best game yet as an Oiler but there is still a good chance that we see him get sent down to Bakersfield once the roster starts getting healthier. Tonight I would play him a ton and see what he can do now that he has a bit more confidence.

Hamblin got noticed in a good way in the pre-season as a player with a ton of energy who never gave up on a play. While Hamblin looked to have some more skill, the same overall could be said about Tyler Benson who was finishing checks and playing solid hockey in camp. These are the kinds of players that Edmonton needs in their bottom six, not fighters or guys who only throw hits and bring nothing else.

Against the Rangers the Oilers won because their secondary scoring took over the game for them. Edmonton needs to find ways to put multiple wins together and this new influx of players looking to stay in the NHL could help do that. At the end of the day though the best players need to be the ones leading the charge. McDavid is a competitive guy and he needs to bring his absolute best tonight.

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