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G3 Oilers @ Kings: Do Not Panic UPDATE: Time To Panic |
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CHANGES
The Oilers prepare to take on the reigning Stanley Cup Champions in LA tonight but they may have to do it without their 1C in the lineup. The Oilers are hush hush as to what exactly caused the injury but it was either due to the hit that immediately preceded Nuge’s fight or it was the fight itself. Either way, RNH has an upper body injury and is questionable for tonight’s game. If you didn’t have a good feeling before hearing that news, you definitely wont have one now. I still support fighting and RNH fighting although you wish he didn’t have to. The NHL is still a game where the you have to stand up for yourself once in a while and if Nuge goes on the Gagner fight schedule (once a year, tops) then I wouldn’t be overly upset.
The Oilers have opted to recall Bogdan Yakimov from the AHL and send down Oscar Klefbom to the minors to make room for him. I have yet to see any evidence that Klefbom is actually down on the farm in OKC so there remains the possibility that his demotion is simply a paper transaction. I hope it isn’t because the Oilers cant afford to have him sitting around for too long and it seems as though he’s 3rd on the list of potential 6th Defensemen behind Hunt and Nurse. The kid needs to be playing games not eating popcorn.
Hunt has shown everybody exactly why he’s up with the big club already. He’s got a booming shot from the point and has already tallied one for the good guys on the PP. The problem with him is that he’s a specialist. If he could play only on the PP then sit on the bench all game there wouldn’t be a problem, but since the game is mostly 5v5 there are plenty of opportunities for his weaknesses to be exposed. Additionally, he’s been paired with Edmonton’s weakest Defefender (Schultz) and when the both of them are out there the team has nobody capable of calming things down (or boxing forwards out, or retrieving the puck in the corners, or making a big hit, or…). Hunt was by far the weakest possession player in the last game (25%) and the prospect of keeping the pairing together against the Kings gives me a tummy ache.
Darnell Nurse took some time in practice playing beside Schultz so this might end up being his first NHL game. If so then good for him and I wish him all the best. One might suggest that saving his NHL debut for the night the club plays the Kings was poorly thought out, especially considering the 2 previous games were against significantly weaker teams, but he’s going to play against them eventually anyway so in the long run it shouldn’t matter. If not today then the Oilers have to start him at some point soon before they really start wasting developmental time.
A LITTLE ABOUT YAK
One of the Oilers’ best forwards in their 1st 2 games has been Nail Yakupov. He has a goal and an assist so far and has averaged just under 12 minutes a game. Put another way, he has averaged only 16 seconds more than Jesse Joensuu so far. Now I’m glad Uncle Jesse is playing like this is still preseason, but Dallas Eakins needs to find more ways to get Yak ice out there. If that means playing Leon Draisaitl even though he’s an 18 year old rookie then so be it. If that means demoting Eberle for a shift or two after he lazily skates to open pucks then all the better. I don’t care how it happens, it just needs to happen.
The only excuse the team has was that the Refs decided to give Vancouver every opportunity to win the game the other night when they allowed a hand pass for a goal and then gave the Nucks 6 straight Power Play opportunities. Something like that takes all the rhythm out of the game and makes finding ice time for players very difficult, but it still isn’t a free pass. If the coach doesn’t trust the line in the 3rd then he needs to break them up, not bench them. Personally, I would rather them play and prove that they cant handle important minutes than sit because somebody guesses they cant.
LINEUP
The Oilers lineup is full of question marks. RNH might be out with an injury, but he also came back a month or so early from shoulder surgery last season so there’s still reason to believe he could be playing tonight. If not then we should expect Yakimov to get his NHL debut. Nurse could also get his 1st NHL game in too, which could make this very memorable or very forgettable depending on how the Kings play. If anybody had asked me I would consider keeping Hunt in the lineup and sitting Ference for a game. He is making all kinds of strange decisions out there. Scary. Eakins scrambled the lines in practice yesterday so he might have something up his sleeve but I’m going with the old favourites until proven otherwise.
Hall ??? Eberle
Perron Arco Purcell
Pouliot Draisaitl Yak
Hendricks Gordon Joensuu
??? Schultz
Nikitin Fayne
Ference Petry
???
UPDATE
In Practice the lines were:
Hall Arco Purcell
Perron Yakimov Joensuu
Pouliot Draisaitl Yak
Hendricks Gordon Acton
Nurse Schultz
Nikitin Fayne
Hunt Ference
Fasth
RNH present but at the side with Gazdic flipping pucks about. Eberle is out tonight with an injury too. The big news is that Eakins has made Petry a healthy scratch. He claims Petry is a little behind because he missed camp. To my eye and by number he has been one of the Oilers' very best defenders. This decision is so absurd that it borders, nay, IS a sign of incompetence. There are no excuses for this if Petry really is healthy. Unbelieveable. I am tempted to join team "Fire Eakins". That's how insane this choice is.
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Support. Whether its emotional or defensive zone, the Oilers will need to support each other tonight much more effectively than they did in the last game. The Kings play the kind of puck possession game that is designed to effectively crush teams like the Oilers to a fine pulp. If Schultz or Ference start running around it’s going to be a Turkey shoot. They will need to have calm feet and make good decisions out there. It could be a rough night.
2) Discipline. While not all the penalties against the Canucks were real, there were a few that the team definitely had coming to them. Eberle shoving the blade of his stick into Kassian’s caveman face was both applause worthy and avoidable. The team cant take a string of penalties like they did and expect to win. The problem is that if the Oilers swing too far the other direction and play a gentle game against the Kings they’re going to be victimized (probably by Dustin Brown who plays with both knees extended and as light on his feet as possible).
3) Big Leon. The Oilers drafted this kid because he was big and they needed players to match up against teams like the Kings. Is it too much too fast if he starts playing more minutes this early into his pro career? Probably, but he’s an NHL player not a porcelain doll and it’s time we see what he can do. The Oilers will continue to get physically dominated if they wont play the guys who can actually protect the puck. Puck protection and slick passing are the 2 skills we know Draisaitl has at an NHL level. If the Oilers want to win then they need the kid playing. It isn’t ideal, but it’s a fact.
Puck drops tonight at 8:30PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet 360. Game On!
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