Last game against the Senators marked the halfway mark for the Edmonton Oilers/ 28 games are now in the books with the second 28 starting tonight. Here are some numbers to take a gander at.

- Edmonton has 34 points in 28 games (8th in the NHL)
- Edmonton has a P% of 0.607 (14th in the NHL)
- Edmonton PP is 26.60% (7th in the NHL)
- Edmonton PK is 76.74% (21st in NHL)
- The Oilers have scored a total of 93 goals (2nd in NHL)
- The Oilers have scored 60 EV goals (3rd in NHL)
- The Oilers have allowed 83 goals (23rd in NHL)

Overall Edmonton is exactly what I predicted them to be prior to the start of the season, they are a high offense team that still has things to work on defensively. The improvement of the 5 on 5 scoring however is a massive improvement from last season.

Speaking of offensive domination that is exactly what we saw from the Oilers against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night. The Oilers skated circles around the Sens and I honestly cannot think of another game where one team so handily skated circles around the other. Anytime the Oilers skated into the Senators end it felt like Edmonton was on a PP...sometimes even a 5 on 3 advantage for the Oilers.

Ottawa simply had no answer for Edmonton, specifically the Draisaitl, McDavid, and Yamamoto line. Once again that line will go to work tonight but it's not something I want to see Edmonton constantly rely on. Prior to this point the Oilers won games through their depth and not just one line. That should remain the case.

OILERS LINE COMBINATIONS

Draisaitl – McDavid – Yamamoto
Ennis – RNH – Puljujarvi
Shore – Khaira – P.Russell
Neal – Haas – Chiasson

Nurse – Barrie
Lagesson – Larsson
Jones – Bear

Smith

SENATORS LINE COMBINATIONS

Stutzle – Anisimov – Batherson
Tkachuk – Tierney – Brown
Paul – Norris – Dadonov
Bishop – Peca – Watson

Chabot – Zaitsev
Reilly – Zub
Wolanin – Gudbranson

Daccord

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4 GAME THOUGHTS

1.) Playing For A Contract - RNH may have 21 points in 28 games but he only has 8 points at 5 on 5 this season. That's not nearly good enough, especially considering he spent most of those minutes with McDavid. If RNH wants some kind of bigger payday come the off season he needs to start doing himself more favours.

2.) Angry Senators - Ottawa was absolutely man-handled last game and on top of that they lost Colin White and Ryan Dzingel to injuries. The Senators are already a hard physical team and you can bet they want some retribution.

3.) Bearing Down - Edmonton should absolutely not be trading Ethan Bear. End of discussion. The 23 year old right shot defender has had some struggles since coming back from a concussion, something many other players have dealt with as well. Over the last couple games Bear has shown some of the poise that made him so good last season. Keep Bear going, don't trade him.

4.) Back To Smith - Mikko Koskinen once again does not get the start as it appears that Tippett will go to him tomorrow night in Vancouver instead. Just worth a mention that Tippett isn't necessarily giving Koskinen the easy assignment tonight.

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