The Oilers had two terrible starts.
Edmonton needs to be ready for the opener, and Evander Kane is confident they will be.
“I think our starts…we haven’t been as physically engaged as we wanted to be,” Kane said. “We will have a much better start on Tuesday night. We have to physically engage. I think it wakes everyone up, both as a team and individually.
Markus Niemelainen was recalled from Bakersfield yesterday and Brad Malone has been reassigned. If the Oilers are looking for a physical boost, Niemelainen will provide it. It’s a homing missile every time it’s on the ice. He hits hard and hits often. He skates through guys and his physical play wakes up his teammates. It looks like Jay Woodcroft will be fielding 11 forwards and seven D-men tonight.
But Niemelainen is just a player, and he wasn’t there in games one and two. The Oilers need a better start, but they also need to limit the scoring chances in the run. Currently, they are 31st in chances allowed out of the race. They were pretty good at that last season under Woodcroft and I expect we’ll see them tighten up in that area.
Edmonton hasn’t handled the puck well consistently in the offensive zone. They flipped pucks or misread and it cost them chances against. Woodcroft believes that one of his team’s best assets is his ability to hold his own in the offensive zone, but they haven’t done so as often as he would have liked yet.
“We didn’t maintain enough time in the O zone,” Woodcroft said. “I think there’s more substance to be had in the offensive zone. I also think it’s a good form of checking and it doesn’t get enough credit because when you have the puck in the offensive zone and you smash a team you don’t allow them to counter attack because she’s probably spent most of her shift in the own end, which means they flip it, then they switch, and it gets you back directly on top of them. I think we can be more substantial in the offensive zone.
Last season, the Oilers led the NHL in time of possession/game in the offensive zone at 7:37. After two games this season, they’re 22nd at 5:48 — nearly two full minutes shy of O zone possession time. Edmonton has too much talent not to own the puck more regularly. It will come, and when it does, their chances of scoring against the impromptu will likely decrease accordingly. The lack of O-zone possession time has led the Oilers to spend too much time in their D-zone. They are currently 28th in D-zone time (the opposition having possession) at 7:29/game. Last year, the Oilers were 11th at 6:16.
The best defense is a good offense which rings true for the Oilers when looking at O zone possession time. When Edmonton is playing well, they control the puck and don’t defend as often. Buffalo is a team the Oilers should be able to control play against.
Lubricators
Kane–McDavid–Yamamoto
Hyman–Draisaitl–Puljujarvi
Holloway – RNH – Foegele
Shoreline–McLeod
Nurse – Ceci
Koulak–Barrie
Murray Bouchard
Niemelainen
Skinner
Stuart Skinner gets his first start of the season, but he played nearly 50 minutes in relief Saturday against the Flames. He was excellent, stopping all 31 shots he faced. Since last season, Skinner is currently riding a 134:33 shutout streak. He hasn’t allowed a goal since Tyler Toffoli scored at 15:09 of the second period for Montreal in a 7-2 Oilers win on Jan. 29. Then, on February 14, Skinner shut out San Jose, stopping all 20 shots he faced. He was reassigned to the AHL soon after and didn’t play another NHL game until last Saturday, when he stopped all 31 shots he faced.
The original plan was for Skinner to start against Buffalo, and although Campbell only played 10 minutes on Saturday, Woodcroft wanted to stick to his plan. However, Woodcroft said he wanted to be flexible with Skinner’s schedule. He doesn’t have a plan for every start of the season.
The front two lines traded crosses early in the second game. McDavid is back with Kane and Yamamoto, while Draisaitl centers Zach Hyman and Jesse Puljujarvi. Poor starts in the first two games forced Woodcroft to flesh out his top line. He would like to avoid that tonight.
Sabers
Skinner-Thompson-Tuch
Hinostroza-Cozens-Peterka
Asplund–Mittelstadt–Olofsson
Girgensons–Krebs–Okposo
Samuelsson–Dahlin
Power – Jokiharju
Bryson–Lyubushkin
Comrie
The Sabers are a very young team with 12 of their 18 skaters aged 24 and under. They’re still rebuilding, but they’ve got some great bits in Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Dylan Cozens, Petyon Krebs, Jack Quinn, John Peterka and Michael Samuelsson. I would like at least one experienced and veteran defender, but right now they are going with youngsters. We’ll see how it works. Oilers forwards need to hold their heads high when Ilya Lyubushkin is on the ice. He is very physical.
Eric Comrie will start his second straight game for the Sabers as he gets the start in his hometown. Skinner v. Comrie, quite a story for two Edmonton kids.
MATCH DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers have a better start and they go offensively and win 6-2.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTIONS: Edmonton scores two power play goals.
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS PREDICTIONS FOR GAME DAY: McDavid notches his 86th career three-pointer and his first against the Sabres.
#GDB #Tankers #good #start #p.m #SN360