As I wrote yesterday, the Oilers will play a game tonight without their key pivot on the blueline in Darnell Nurse. Philip Broberg will play in his first NHL game and Stuart Skinner will get his second straight start after an impressive performance against the Winnipeg Jets. Tonight both young players will need to be sharp as they face off against a Hawks team that struggled mightily in October but has started to right the ship in November.

Chicago has won their last four straight games against the Predators, Penguins, Coyotes, and Kraken. Three of these games have been decided by a goal while two of them required overtime/shooutout. Defensively the Hawks have been a mess with Seth Jones struggling to be worthy of his impending 9.5 million dollar contract. Offensively, the Hawks still have a number of potent weapons including DeBrincat and Kane and younger depth in the likes of Dach and Kubalik.

Another interesting note is that this is the first time that the Hawks and Oilers will face off since the Oilers lost 4-1 against the Hawks in the 2019/2020 playoffs. Those playoff games were an offensive track meet with poor goaltending on both sides. I do expect this game to be far more open than the last two tough matchups against the Jets. That being said, Edmonton would do well to remember how they played in their own end and do whatever they can to help out their young goaltender.

Tonight also marks Duncan Keith's first match against his former team. In just under 1200 NHL games with the Hawks, Duncan Keith put up 105 goals and 520 assists. Keith is a future Hall of Fame defenseman and will want to put his best foot forward against his former team. For the sanity of Oilers fans (hi dad) Keith's best foot forward hopefully won't result in him tripping, resulting in an odd-man rush going the other way.

The Oilers lineup still has not been revealed for tonight but I do believe we will see Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci split up in order to help shelter the Oilers younger defensemen. I expect to see Keith with Bouchard, Ceci with Broberg and finally Russell with Barrie. This would give the Oilers the most balanced lineup in terms of more defensively responsible players playing alongside puck movers. There is also the possibility we see the Oilers run seven defenders with Lagesson being called up but I think Tippett will want to try and get some consistency in these new lines instead of shuffling around the extra man.

I will post an updated lineup for the Oilers once one appears, other than that enjoy a Saturday night game!

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