Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Happy New Year, Oil Country.

Not only was Tuesday night a good win to end 2024, it was also an interesting display of line juggling. Connor Brown was promoted to the top line with Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He responded to his promotion with 2 assists in the second period, 20 seconds apart from each other. Who knows if Brown will stay that high up for the rest of the season. But he earned his chance to be put there with 10 points in his last 9 games. This is the version of him we were thinking of before his 2022/2023 injury. He became a hot-button topic in Edmonton last year when trying to find his game and pace again after the injury healed up. They don’t feel that way about him now, and it’s great to see.

That line was together again during practice yesterday. Some Oilers fans were perplexed to see Zach Hyman on the third line. It’s obvious to assume that it’s just to find balanced scoring. I’d still rather see Nugent-Hopkins as the 3C as well, though. He and Hyman have experience playing on the same line anyway. Mattias Janmark had a quietly productive first three months of the season. I’d be fine with him staying as a winger instead of being a centerman. And the coaching staff still hates Jeff Skinner.

Before the New Year’s Eve game started, Clayton Keller was suddenly scratched from the lineup. Then, during the game, there was a moment when Mikhael Sergachev fell into the boards and was getting up pretty slowly. Thankfully, he kept playing after that and was okay. We hope that Keller is okay, too. Seeing Utah lose both of them in the same night would be like the Oilers losing both McDavid and Draisaitl.

Our team ended the past year with a win of redemption, let’s see them start the new year with a win of revenge. The keys to the game are…

No Repeat: Remember what happened last weekend? Remember that thing I say about playing against teams way below ours in the standings? Like that scene from The Simpsons, don’t make me tap the sign.

Even Steven: In Edmonton’s visit to Anaheim, they scored 2 of their 3 goals on the powerplay. The Ducks came up with 5 even strength goals. The Oilers look to flip that stat sheet in the rematch. I didn’t just say “Even Steven” because my name happens to be Stephen.

Tired?: The third youngest roster in the league, and they played last night in Winnipeg against the 1st place team. Provided that the Oilers don’t disappear in one period again, they should make this back-to-back a tough lesson for the visitors. The Ducks also beat the Jets, so look back at the first key and, again, don’t take them lightly.