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G19: Oilers @ Flames - First Pacific Tilt

November 17, 2018, 3:03 PM ET [171 Comments]
Sean Maloughney
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT

We are just over halfway through the month of November and tonight Edmonton will play their first game against a Pacific opponent. Edmonton plays 29 games this season against Pacific teams meaning the of the Oilers remaining 63 games, 46% are against division rivals.

In the Bettman era these are 4 point swing games. 6 of the Oilers next 7 games are against Pacific teams. A strong end to the month could put the Oil into a playoff position with some room to spare.

Parity is strong in the league. At first glance Edmonton is in the middle of the pack and sit 19th overall. Having said that 11 of the teams below Edmonton sit only two points back. The Pacific Division is the worst division in hockey. Only one team in the entire division has a positive goal differential (Arizona at +2). Only one team in the entire Central Division has a negative goal differential.

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RYAN SPOONER ENTERS THE LINEUP

First off can we appreciate the irony of the Oilers trading a top 6 winger for a third line centre for a lesser top 6 winger who also might end up as the third line centre but one who isn't as good as the third line centre they traded to get him.

Not sure if that is irony or just a bad GM.

Ryan Spooner will make his Oilers debut just one day after the Oilers acquired him by trading Ryan Strome. Spooner will start tonight on the second line with Ryan Nugent Hopkins and Ty Rattie.

Time will tell whether or not this move will fall upon the pile of terrible trades Chiarelli has made. Trading Eberle for Strome was a bad trade, and in turn looking at this for Eberle for Spooner is also a bad trade.

On a roster where bottom 6 forwards play on the top line and third pairing D are in the top 4 Strome was a player who was exactly where he was supposed to be. Strome was a positive possession third line centre and a solid penalty killer on a team that desperately needs penalty killers. The fact that he was able to maintain solid possession numbers while being anchored to Lucic is something of a miracle.

Spooner meanwhile is a left handed shot who after posting some solid numbers in Boston and in New York fell off a cliff this season. Spooner has never been a strong possession player but has had success on the penalty kill. With Rieder out a month, Chiarelli is hoping Spooner can step in and perhaps be an even better fit.

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LINEUPS

OILERS

Caggiula-McDavid-Draisaitl
Spooner-RNH-Rattie
Lucic-Marody-Chiasson
Khaira-Brodziak-Kassian

Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Benning
Gravel-Russell

Koskinen

FLAMES


Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Sam Bennett
Dillon Dube - Mark Jankowski - James Neal
Garnet Hathaway - Derek Ryan - Michael Frolik

Mark Giordano - T.J. Brodie
Noah Hanifin - Travis Hamonic
Juuso Valimaki - Rasmus Andersson

David Rittich

4 KEYS TO VICTORY

1) Battle of the Backups.
Much is being discussed about the surprise first goaltending battle of this years Battle of Alberta. Smith has posted a .876 SV% while Talbot has posted a .875. Rittich meanwhile has won 5 of his 6 starts posting a .935 and Koskinen has won 4 of his 5 positing a .918. The Oilers need Koskinen to play his best game yet.
2) Spooner and Marody. I've already spent a solid portion of this blog discussing what the Oilers need from Spooner. The Oilers will also be expecting Cooper Marody to fill in for Ryan Strome. Marody, a right handed centre has 10 points in 7 AHL games this season. McLellan has repeatedly called Marody an NHL centre and tonight he will get an opportunity to show it.
3) A Real Second Pairing? The Oilers started out the 2018/2019 season with Nurse and Benning on the second pairing. Benning struggled heavily and the Oilers were stuck with Russell on the second line. At best Nurse-Russell broke even but failed to produce any goals. Benning has slowly returned to form and last game both he and Nurse were able to produce a goal. Hopefully with Russell relegated away from the top four the Oilers can start producing from their second pairing.
4) Connor McDavid. I have avoided using McDavid in most of my keys to victory because of how obvious he is to the success of this team. However in the case against Calgary McDavid needs to be discussed. McDavid has scored more goals (9) than he has against any other team. In the first game of last year against Calgary, McDavid scored a hat trick. Hopefully we can see something spectacular from him tonight.

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FILM OF THE DAY

Tonight the Oilers finally face off against a Pacific Division. The Battle of Alberta has been up there with other classic battles; Werewolf vs Vampire, Tyson vs Smith, Kaiju vs Robot.... that last one is the premise behind the popcorn flick Pacific Rim.

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