After an abysmal start to the road trip where the Oilers lost to the Sabres and Devils in games where they were leading or tied going into the third period, they rounded things out with wins in New York against the Islanders and Rangers. All four games were decided by a single goal (McDavid scored an empty netter against the Rangers). The scoring still isn't there for the Oilers but defensively and between the pipes the Oilers are showing signs of improvement. We need to see far more consistency through the rest of March before anyone can declare the Oilers as "back."

A couple thoughts going into tonight's game against the Utah Utah's.

It looks like Calvin Pickard will start tonight. Stuart Skinner played a solid game against the Rangers. He didn't have a phenomenal performance, he was simply good enough and stopped the shots that he should be stopping. I do find it a bit interesting that after a good performance that Pickard immediately gets another start but it seems that Knoblauch wants to split more starts down the stretch between his goaltenders.

Jeff Skinner will at least start the game tonight on a top line with McDavid and Hyman. Skinner was excellent against the Rangers, drawing two penalties in the first period of the game and overall just looking dangerous when he was on the ice. It looks like Knoblauch is finally clueing in a bit and recognizing that he should maybe play a goal scorer with skill players.

Ekholm also returns tonight and he and Bouchard will reunite on the top pairing. Ekholm has been dealing with some illness that was enough to put him out for the entire 4 game road trip. Ekholm has also had some lacklustre moments since the 4 Nations Faceoff and hopefully he is back to full health and continue to be an excellent partner alongside Evan Bouchard.

On Bouchard he has started to look a bit more like the player he was last season, and is finding the back of the net with his shot once more. Another quick note, the Bouchard and Walman pair actually worked quite well with the two right shot pass first defenders. In 51 minutes of 5 on 5 play together, Walman and Bouchard were on the ice for 3 goals for and only 1 goal against. Their team outshot their opponents 29-17 in those minutes and posted a CF% of 57:43.

Walman will play the right side tonight alongside Darnell Nurse which I do think is the right call. This gives each pair in the top 4 a strong puck moving defender (Bouchard and Walman) with another player as the more defensive two way player with size and speed (Nurse and Ekholm). Nurse has played well with Walman and when there is a player beside him that is making the plays, Nurse is able to simplify his game more.

In other news the Oilers have called up Derek Ryan from the AHL and while it doesn't appear that he will play tonight, he will surely get into some games soon. There are a number of players that Ryan could slot into the lineup for; Janmark, Podkolzin, Kapanen, Jones, and even Adam Henrique.

Trent Frederic continues to heal and should hopefully be seeing some games before the end of March. When Frederic is in the lineup I wonder what combination of players we will see together. My best guess right now is something like this:

Skinner-McDavid-Hyman
Frederic-Draisaitl-Brown
Henrique(Kane)-RNH-Arvidsson
Podkolzin(Henrique)-Ryan-Perry

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Walman
Kulak-Emberson

Skinner

I have added Evander Kane in parenthesis there because if he returns for the playoffs than that is the type of group I would run.

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On the conversation of NHL Awards I wanted to get a few of my thoughts out there. For me, it seems obvious that Leon Draisaitl should be leading the way. Both MacKinnon and Draisaitl are having phenomenal seasons but put side by side I don't know how one can say MacKinnon has done more.

- MacKinnon has 103 points to Draisaitl's 101.
- MacKinnon has 27 goals (19 at even strength and 8 on the powerplay). Draisaitl has 49 goals (34 at even strength and 15 on the powerplay)
- Draisaitl's most common linemate this season is Vasily Podkolzin. MacKinnon's is Arrturi Lehkonen and Rantanen prior to that.

Last year I said that Matthews didn't deserve that Hart over MacKinnon or Kucherov because while his goal totals were incredible, being nearly 40 points behind the likes of those two players hurt his case. If Draisaitl has a dominant goal scoring performance and finishes a point or two behind MacKinnon that is a different case to me.

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A dark-horse for me for the Hart however might get Oilers fans a little annoyed... because I think Dustin Wolf absolutely should be in the conversation and has a better case for the Vezina than Connor Hellebuyck.

The Calgary Flames are a lottery team this year. They are at or near the bottom of the NHL in every goal scoring category, well beneath the likes of the Sharks and Hawks. The only reason this team is in playoff contention right now is because Dustin Wolf as a rookie has single handedly carried this team on his back and kept them in games they had no business being in.

If the Flames make the playoffs than Wolf deserves the Calder, the Vezina, and arguably at least some votes for the Hart Trophy. Who can be argued to be more valuable to their team than a goalie with numbers like his on a team like the Flames?

Unfortunately, if the Flames do miss the playoffs than all of this likely goes out the window, Wolf likely loses the Calder to Hutson, the Vezina to Hellebuyck, and the Hart to Draisaitl or MacKinnon. "Almost" helping your team to making the playoffs just won't cut it.

Thanks for reading.

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