Through the month of October the Oilers rolled out an impressive 6-1-0 record. Tonight the Oilers will play their final game of the month of November, having gone 8-4-0 thus far. Considering the injury issues Edmonton has dealt with over the past couple of weeks, even if the team loses tonight and finishes the month with an 8-5-0 record fans should be content. Adversity builds character and should help make the Oil a stronger and more cohesive group come playoff time.

After keeping the lines pretty consistent through the first month and a half of the season, we are starting to see Tippett juggle things a bit more. Here is the projected lines for tonight's game:

Hyman-McDavid-Kassian
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Foegele-McLeod-Puljujarvi
Benson-Ryan-Sceviour

Russell-Barrie
Broberg-Ceci
Lagesson-Bouchard

Much to the chagrin of many, Kassian has been elevated onto a line with McDavid while Puljujarvi finds himself on the third line. Personally I don't have any issue with trying this for a few games. Against the Coyotes, Kassian scored a goal and put up a couple of assists playing with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. In shorter bursts we have seen Kassian be effective in this role as long as he is finishing his checks and getting open to receive passes from McDavid.

Tonight I am more curious to see how Jesse Puljujarvi looks on the third line with Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele. JP has been snake-bit as of late, not having scored in his last 8 games. He has been getting chances but bad luck and great goaltenders have kept him off the scoresheet. Prior to the start of the season I suggested putting Kailer Yamamoto on the third line as a chance to boost his confidence and to feast on lesser competition. Now Puljujarvi will have that same opportunity, playing alongside a very confident Ryan McLeod.

Despite the adds in the off-season, the third line was still getting caved in through the first couple of months of the season, allowing more goals against than were being scored. Injecting Ryan McLeod into that role has not fully stopped the bleeding but it is a noticeable improvement. Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod have now played just over 70 minutes together at 5 on 5 and have been on the ice for 3 goals for and 3 against. Puljujarvi is a big upgrade on Kassian and adds a big shot to that line that did not exist with the likes of Kassian or Sceviour in that spot. In a very small sample size of 8 minutes at 5 on 5, this trio against the Coyotes had a 66.67CF% and an 77.73xGF%. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do against the Golden Knights.

After a rougher start and plagued by injuries, the Golden Knights are starting to look like a team that could push for the top spot in the Pacific Division. They've gone 8-4-0 just like the Oilers in November. Last time these two teams faced off, Vegas was without Pacioretty and Mark Stone. Both players will be in the lineup tonight and it appears Marchessault who was a question mark to play will indeed be in the lineup.

At the time of writing this blog, there is no update on whether Koskinen or Skinner gets the start tonight. Both netminders have played well as of late but I would still give Skinner the edge. Koskinen has won 4 of his last 5 starts but he doesn't have a single game with a SV% above 0.900 in those games. Here are his last 5 starts:

vs Coyotes - 0.889SV% (3 goals on 27 shots)
vs Jets 0.846SV% (4 goals on 26 shots)
vs Blues 0.897SV% (4 goals on 39 shots)
vs Bruins 0.897SV% (3 goals on 29 shots)
vs Rangers 0.800SV% (5 goals on 25 shots)

The Oilers have had plenty of time to rest so fatigue shouldn't be a factor in who gets the start tonight. Tippett will start whoever he thinks gives the team the best chance to win and that decision will be very telling.

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Putting a break here because we have not discussed Leon Draisaitl's start nearly enough. Even if Draisaitl does not score a goal tonight, Leon will have 20 goals in his first 20 games of the season. Draisaitl has gone 20-20-40 in the first 19 points of the season and is four points ahead of Connor McDavid. Leon already has one Hart Trophy to his name and right now looks like he is gunning not only for his second, but also the first Rocket of his career. The fact that people are discussing 50 goals in 50 games as even a potential possibility is astounding. Oilers fans are watching history before their eyes and will one day be able to tell their children or grandchildren that they watched Hall of Famer Leon Draisaitl score his 20th goal before the 20 game mark, just as some fans described watching Gretzky.

Right now there shouldn't even be a debate. McDavid and Draisaitl are the two best players in the NHL. Years ago fans hoped that Leon and McDavid could come close to the duo of Crosby and Malkin... in terms of raw skill I would say they have surpassed the Pittsburgh centres. In order for fans from other markets to recognize this, the next step has to be playoff success.

This is the ending of the blog and I managed to get through the whole thing without bringing up the fact that Kris Russell is on the Oilers top pairin...... so close....

Thanks for reading

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