Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Thursday night was the kind of loss you don’t like to have, but at least the Oilers still got themselves a point in the standings and are still tied with Vegas for 1^st place in the Pacific Division. I really did think they’d win after killing a penalty in Overtime, though. Blowing a 2 goal lead after having lots of momentum is far from ideal, but you also had to expect a team like the Red Wings to keep pushing hard as they’re in a tight race for a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. John Klingberg appeared in his first game as an Oiler. I remember seeing one pass he made from his own end to a teammate. That was cool, but I need to watch more than 1 game before I give my opinion on him. I found out he was playing in the middle of the day. I was actually hoping his first game would be tonight, and then one of my keys to the game would’ve been “Here’s Johnny”. Way to take away the humour, Edmonton.

Most of the talk about that game centered around Jeff Skinner, undoubtedly playing his best game as an Oiler. He scored his second goal in as many games, and broke up a 2v1 rush on the backcheck in the third period. Then yesterday, I logged back onto Twitter, and he was practicing on the 4^th line again. Perhaps this is an overreaction, but why? It’s only practice, but what more does Skinner need to do to earn a consistent top 6 spot? He could’ve scored the OT winner or the SO winner and probably still end up being a healthy scratch. Brandon Saad was picked up on waivers by the Golden Knights. Some Oilers fans and media were thinking Stan Bowman might’ve picked him up and that would’ve signaled the end of Skinner’s time here. But if Jeff is staying, he deserves to be rewarded for a good game and never glued to the bottom 6 again. Otherwise, what was the point in signing him?

It’s always cool to play an Original 6 team at Rogers Place, even if half the rink will be filled with the visiting side’s fans. Tonight is the same, except we get an Eastern Canadian does. That means we won’t be seeing another octopus thrown on the ice. The biggest story heading into this game was always going to be Darnell Nurse and Ryan Reaves. Just move on and play. The hit was bad, but looking for revenge will make you do other stupid things on the ice, putting your team in other disadvantages. Take it out on the scoreboard. The keys to the game are…

Yankee Doodle Leaf: Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews didn’t play the last meeting between these teams back in November in Toronto due to injury. Last season, when his team visited Edmonton, he scored the first goal just half a minute in, but then you never noticed him again. Look for him to want to have a big game on the road against his McDonald’s commercial partner.

Be Gaffeless: Also, in the last meeting back in November, the Oilers looked like they were tightening up their way to a win until one brutal mistake on their own end resulted in a goal against them. At least they still got a point in OT, but it would’ve been 2, were it not for that 180 shift in momentum. Make smarter, more alert choices with the puck. Expect that one of your teammates may pass or receive the puck when you start skating the other way.

Leftover Stu: And thirdly, in the last meeting with the Maple Leafs, Stuart Skinner would like to take back that same third period collapse that was just referenced. Not that I blame Stu for Thursday’s loss because he made some great, timely saves, but I do have mixed feelings about the tying goal he allowed. I mentioned in another article 2 games ago that he has a 10-3 record in games following a loss. Against a team with an elite offense, he’ll look to rebound from a loss on Thursday which, honestly, wasn’t his worst.