Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Tyler Palmer skating for the Edmonton Oilers

Mattias Janmark scored a goal… On a goalie.

A tying goal in the first period by Janmark was his first goal with a goalie in the net since June 24^th of last year. You don’t have to look up the final score; it’s unimportant. He was quietly producing earlier in the season with assists. But more goals would feel good if he gets that going. The Oilers were even able to score an empty net goal. Finally, the stars were aligning on Monday night. Calvin Pickard started the game for Edmonton, as Stuart Skinner’s wife was giving birth. Congrats to the Skinner couple on having their second born. So the team signed 21-year-old goaltender Tyler Palmer to an amateur contract, and he served a night as the backup to Pickard. He had a save percentage of .907 for the WHL’s Everett Silvertips in 46 games last season and has a .912 SV% in 15 games for the University of Alberta. Even though he didn’t actually get any time on the ice, it must’ve been a cool experience to still be part of an NHL game like that. How many people can say they propped Connor McDavid on the bench after a goal was scored? It’s nice to have McDavid back, by the way; 3 games were too long for an Oilers fan.

Pickard had a solid night as the last minute starter, he now has 9 wins in his last 10 starts. As long as both he and Skinner don’t have too many cold nights between now and the Trade Deadline, I don’t believe goaltending is an area of need to address, contrary to some in the fanbase. The Oil continue their homestand against one of the hottest teams in the opposite conference. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Pregame Notes

New Wheels: Todd McLellan returned to the team he won a Stanley Cup with as an assistant coach. The Detroit Red Wings are 11-4-1 since their coaching change and now find themselves just 2 points out of a Wild Card spot. The former Oilers bench boss’s message was simple, “Play f-ing hockey, you’ve been doing it your whole lives”.

Break The Streak: Detroit’s penalty kill is ranked 31st, but they haven’t allowed a powerplay in their last 4 games. Edmonton isn’t scoring that much with the man advantage these days, but if you can make the Red Wings take roughly 2 or 3 penalties, they might be a good opponent to practice 5v4 hockey on.

Pick Again(?): This key is mostly dependent on whether or not Calvin Pickard would get another start, it may not even mean anything before puck drop when we see the expected lineup. But he has a 4-1 record in 5 career games against Detroit, one of those wins was just back in October on the road. Stuart Skinner practiced with the team yesterday, but you never know if he still has the newborn jitters. Plus, we’ve always wanted another goalie we could trust to give Stu more breaks. Against a team Pickard does well against, you’d be killing two birds with one stone hear.