Being 1-1 after the first two games isn't a big deal. There are going to be losses throughout the season. The concerning aspect so far for the Edmonton Oilers has been their inability to show up to start games and weak defensive coverage. Jack Campbell was pulled after allowing 4 goals on 11 shots. You probably hope Campbell makes at least one of those saves but it's difficult to put a loss on him when the Oilers allowed the Flames far too easy entry into their own zone.

Yesterday, Evander Kane spoke about the team as a whole needing to be more physical. Personally I don't think that is the issue. Early on, the Oilers were outhitting Calgary... they should have spent less time hitting and more time trying to hold onto the puck.

Two games and in both the Oilers found themselves down three goals. In both games, the team was able to claw their way back... once to a victory and once to a close loss. That is not a recipe for success and it is something the team needs to figure out right away.

Markus Niemelainen was called up and I would expect he plays tonight. It is unclear whether or not the team will run 11-7 or if someone will come out of the lineup. If it is the latter, I would assume Ryan Murray, who had a dreadful game will be the odd man out but even then I would shuffle up the lines more.

I have not liked what I have seen yet out of Kulak and Barrie together and I would rather see Bouchard on that pairing with Barrie on the third pairing. The truth is Edmonton probably needs one more top four defender to truly be a high end team. How the team fairs in the coming weeks will likely show us whether that happens soon or closer to the deadline.

Stuart Skinner gets the start for Edmonton tonight which appears like it was always the play, prior to him getting called into the game against Calgary. Skinner made 31 of 31 saves in that game, along with some grade A chances. I'm looking forward to watching Skinner continue to develop and improve. I would assume Skinner starts tonight and then Campbell gets the next three starts afterwards.

Kane-McDavid-Yamamoto
Hyman-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi
Holloway-RNH-Foegele
Shore-McLeod-Ryan

Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Barrie
Niemelainen-Bouchard
Murray

Skinner

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Skinner-Thompson-Olofsson
Quinn-Mittelstadt-Tuch
Krebs-Cozens-Peterka
Girgensons-Asplund-Okposo

Samuelsson-Dahlin
Power-Jokiharju
Bryson-Lyubshkin

Anderson

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Buffalo is starting to find some chemistry and is looking like a team that may start to climb out of the basement but the Oilers are still a far better team. Tonight, Edmonton needs to come out of the gates strong and win the 5 on 5 battle. We know this team can dominate on the PP or if McDavid and Draisaitl are stacked together. We need to see this team succeeding without solely relying on that fact.

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