The Dallas Stars are one of the highest scoring teams in the Western Conference, but they also allow a fair amount of goals against. They are the kind of team that you would call “Dangerous at both ends of the ice”. The Oilers have not been particularly dangerous the last week and a half anywhere except in their own zone but a solid game against the Ducks gives them something to build off of.

Since the team is back on the road, they can feel a little relieved that (for reasons that don’t make sense) the Penalty Kill is back to being decent. The Oilers have the 3rd best PK on the road in the NHL with 85.1% this season. We’ve highlighted in previous blogs how the team has fundamentally different results on the PK in every major statistical category.

The road is their friend. The Oilers have a 9-12-1 record at home but 9-8-2 on the road. You can 100% draw the connection back to the penalty kill.

Connor McDavid is the driving force behind Oiler success, but he needs his wingers to pull their weight. Jesse Puljujarvi is a 19 year old man-child who has had about as much success as you can expect, but the team needs someone who can be a legitimate finisher on that line. I anticipate that Puljujarvi WILL be that player in the future. The person I can safely say isnt that player in the present, is Milan Lucic.

Milan Lucic is on pace for just 18 goals this season. It’s not enough for McDavid’s primary winger. He’s been a step behind the play and not quick enough with his stick for quite some time. He’s on pace for 54 points and that’s without all the Power Play points he was putting up last year. On the whole, he’s having a reasonably decent Lucic-Type season. It’s just not really what the Oilers need from 97’s winger.

As the trade market heats up around the NHL, the chance for the Oilers to find a potentially long-term answer at 1LW comes back around. Of course, this is not discounting the possibility that the team would prefer to re-sign Patrick Maroon. We keep an eye to the news around the league to see where Edmonton might be able to improve via external options.

One internal option that the Oilers have not actually tried is keeping Puljujarvi on the right and using Draisaitl on the left. Puljujarvi is the top right shot winger in terms of goal scoring per 60 WITH McDavid (0.96 G/60) and Draisaitl is the top left shot forward in terms of goals scoring per 60 WITH McDavid (1.52 G/60). Obviouslythis undermines the 3 center approach they’ve been using, but it should maximize the potential for McDavid to create offense.

Points Back: 8

LINEUP

Nobody is quite sure what is happening with Montoya yet. I’m using last game’s lineup.

Lucic McDavid Puljujarvi
Cammalleri RNH Strome
Caggiula Draisaitl Slepyshev
Khaira Letestu Kassian

Nurse Larsson
Klefbom Russell
Sekera Benning

Talbot

OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME

1) Good Afternoon? The Oilers are playing the first of back to back afternoon games. The Oilers have been thoroughly abused in matinee games as a form of NHL tradition. This year is no different. The Oilers are 1-4 in these early games this season alone and they have another 4 to go. Head Coach Todd McLellan has switched up the team’s regular routine in order to potentially give them a better chance at winning. I don’t doubt that routine is important to success for these professional athletes so I support any change to whatever it is that they were doing before.

2) Healthy Tyler. I’ll file this under “Ex-Oiler Curse” but the reality is I just wanted to touch on former Oiler Tyler Pitlick for a minute. When the Oilers decided to part ways with Pitlick, I was in full support of the move. The former Medicine Hat Tiger plays the game hard and always in a North-South direction. There’s a lot to like about the kid, but he’s also had health problems. This season he has played 40 NHL games. It’s the first time since 2012-2013 that he’s appeared in 40 or more games in any one league. In the past three seasons, he has played just 31, 37, and 31 games total and all due to health issues. He’s had shoulder, knee, and SPLEEN problems derail him a lot in his young career. I hope he’s past all that and goes on to have a long and healthy career in the NHL. I really do.

3) Connor Flying. There might be very few goals being scored by the Oilers these days, but it isnt because McDavid is sagging. It’s almost impossible for him to have so few points in this stretch because he has been the best player on the ice in every contest. Against the Ducks he was absolutely flying. He was attacking the Ducks blueline all night with his speed and as a result he was drawing penalties late into periods. When McDavid has his feet moving he is worth the price of admission and a nightmare for even the best NHL defenders.

Puck drops at 1PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Game On!

Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy

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