Any hockey player will tell you, it's a different experience walking into another team's arena for the first time. The sights and smells are different, you don't know which showers have the best pressure, or where the vending machines are. Regardless of how long a player has been in the league, there is a foreign aspect to playing on the road. For a few Oilerse in the lineup tonight, it will be their first time playing an NHL game away from home. Aside from the water pressure issue above, these players will also need to be concerned about dealing with new matchups where they will face tougher competition.
As I stated in my last blog, two wins in the first two games is huge for Edmonton to build off going into a four game road trip. A 2W 2L trip should be looked at positively by the team but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter whether or not they win tonight. Similar to the Kings game, it's always tougher when you dig yourself into a hole.
LINEUP
OILERS
Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian
Jurco-RNH-Neal
Khaira-Sheahan-Chiasson
Nygard-Haas-P. Russell
Nurse-Bear
Klefbom-Persson
Russell-Benning
Koskinen
- It looks now like Mikko Koskinen will get his first start this season between the pipes.
- Tomas Jurco lines up with RNH and Neal tonight. Jurco had a nifty play on the Darnell Nurse goal in the previous game but was quiet other than that. He will need to do more with his ice time in this position.
- Archibald was expected to play today but due to the numbers he has been put retroactively on IR and will be available for Thursday's game.
- Sheahan will play his first NHL game of the season after being held out due to concussion protocol
- Nygard and Haas connected on Nygard's first NHL goal and showed some European chemistry together so it makes sense that Tippet wants to see more of them paired.
The Real Deal James Neal broke out in a big way in his second game in Oilers silks with a two goal performance. It cannot be overstated how crucial Neal scoring early into his time with the Oilers is. If he didn't score in the first five or six games you can bet nerves would start to set in for the veteran. Hopefully he can continue to build on that tonight.
ISLANDERS PLAYER SPOTLIGHT - NOAH DOBSON
The defenseman who was selected right after Evan Bouchard will play in his first NHL game tonight. Right now there aren't many Oilers fans sad about Bouchard being selected over Dobson but at the time many felt Noah was the better pick. It will be curious to see how fans feel about their respective picks after this game.
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3 KEYS TO VICTORY
No More Shots To The Feet - Edmonton nearly threw away the game against LA; between bad plays by Smith and poor offensive zone penalties the Oilers were an undisciplined team. Their PK has been good thus far... no reason to keep testing it.
Stingy - One word that describes the Islanders play. Team statistics fluctuate massively between games right now with such a small sample size, but through two games the Islanders have only allowed 2 EV goals against. Edmonton cannot play a perimeter game where they only get a single chance on net at a time. They need to make life difficult for Varlamov.
Fresh Start - Mikko Koskinen will get his first start of the season tonight. The 4.5 million dollar tag on Koskinen should mark him as the starter for the Oil but instead it was Mike Smith who started. The pressure is on for Mikko to impress.
FILM OF THE DAY
There is an endless number of movies about road trips to pick from with most of them being comedies. Instead I'm going with a less typical approach with the underrated Seeking a Friend for the End of the World starring Keira Knightley and Steve Carell as two individuals facing the impending end of the world together.
I really enjoy the movie and wanted to share... I don't want it to be a metaphor for tonight's game.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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