Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

We won a season series against Minnesota. I never thought I’d see that day.

After the 7-1 victory in Edmonton’s last meeting with the Wild, I was ecstatic enough. But to know that we won more head-to-head games and both wins were at Excel Energy Centre, now that’s just Christmas a month later. Is this a sign that the Oilers will now have the long winning streaks between these teams? I hope it is. When Minnesota made it 2-0 late in the first period, it didn’t feel like I’d be writing one of these articles. How quickly the Oil bounced back and set the tone for all of their responses for the rest of the game. In the last article, I mentioned Connor McDavid tying Glenn Anderson for most game-winning goals in franchise history. He now just passed Jari Kurri for second in points behind just The Great One.

After the game in Chicago, I stated that I didn’t like how Calvin Pickard looked, even though he got the win. Here, he was the best player on the team, scoring five goals. He let in 3 goals, but I don’t him for them. It’s hard to be overly critical of a winning goalie that stopped a 2v0 scoring chance. Prospect Noah Philp was called up and played his 4th NHL game. He didn’t really catch my attention, but I hope to see a couple more games from him.

tonight caps off a back-to-back, and it’s against one of the hottest Western Conference teams in the last month and a half. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Thoughts

Woody: Since being traded from San Jose earlier in the season, Mackenzie Blackwood has 15 wins in 31 games for Colorado, posting a .921 SV% and a 2.48 GAA. The Avalanche were bordering between placing themselves in a Wild Card spot(looking more secure now)and being out of a Playoff spot by a couple of points before the trade. Blackwood is giving them the goaltending that Alex Georgiev simply couldn’t.

Half Empty/Half Full: The Avalanche have scored 17 empty net goals this season, one of the craziest stats I’ll ever read as a hockey fan. The Oilers have only scored 6 in comparison, and have had a pretty difficult scoring on some empty nets the last couple of games. The wins obviously matter more than those stats, but should either team be in this position tonight, it’s something to think about.

Tough, Not Reckless: Josh Brown has been back in Edmonton’s lineup since last week against the Bruins. He’s there pretty much just to hit people. Physicality plays a key role in a contact sport, but Brown took a needless retaliatory penalty last night because he tried to instigate a fight after getting hit. This led to the Oilers giving a powerplay goal. Play with emotion, don’t be emotional.