Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Tuesday night was a bittersweet win, I’ll start with the sweet side.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins appears to be back. He’s had back-to-back three point games, including a shorthanded goal. Sometimes, you just look at a player playing a good game and then suddenly remember, “Oh yeah, that guy was a first-overall pick.” Viktor Arvidsson and Vasily Podkolzin were Nuge’s linemates and they also scored goals. In previous years, he was very productive on the top line. But Kris Knoblauch stated to the media that he’s been comfortable at his initial center spot. Is my dream of keeping him as the 3C about to come true?

Zach Hyman was back in the lineup after missing the game at MSG and had a 2 goal, 3 point night. Mattias Ekholm played his first game in 2 weeks and also had a 3 point night. The passing plays that he and Evan Bouchard made to set up Connor McDavid’s rush goal encapsulate the Scorsese Absolute Cinema meme. With Jake Walman getting more comfortable and being a terrific trade addition makes Ekholm’s return to the defense group feel even better. Calvin Pickard had another solid game. After this 3 game winning streak that the Oilers are riding, they have a 29-1-1 record when they allow two goals or less. There’s your answer for why the goaltending has been heavily scrutinized. Here’s another interesting stat: with the fight that Darnell Nurse took part in, the Oilers are now 9-3 in games with fighting majors. Can they start dropping the gloves every game? They only did it once during their February road trip and look how that panned out.

It’s still hard to fathom Leon Draisaitl not scoring his 50th or even getting an assist in a game where his team scored seven goals. But I’m just hoping even more that he didn’t mess up his leg too much when he fell awkwardly after bumping into Olli Maatta. This is the bitter part I warned you about. He took shifts after that and looked no worse for wear. But neither he, McDavid, Hyman, or Ekholm was on the ice during practice yesterday. Knoblauch stated it was a maintenance day for them, and they could be a game-time decision tomorrow. They didn’t need to try that hard to help Draisaitl produce, it may end up being unhealthy for him in hindsight since the game was already out of reach. But credit to Utah for still working hard at shutting him down.

That last bit of news makes tonight’s opponents an even tougher outing than they already were. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Notes

Home Revenge: This if the first meeting against the Jets since Edmonton’s season opener at Rogers Place. The Oilers fans in attendance didn’t get their money’s worth with a 6-0 blowout loss. Make it so that those attending this one will, at a time when the points are more vital in the Standings.

Save Like Hell(e): Connor Hellebuyck looks likely to win another Vezina trophy this year, but played a rare bad game on Tuesday in Vancouver. I mentioned earlier in this article about how the goaltending for Edmonton has looked recently. Whether it’s Pickard or Stuart Skinner in net tonight, this is a big test for them. Don’t expect Hellebuyck to allow 5 goals on 21 shots two games in a row.

Marky Mark: Mark Scheifele is on pace to slightly surpass his highest season point total and recently became Winnipeg’s franchise leader in goals, passing Ilya Kovalchuk’s 328 goals when the Jets were still the Atlanta Thrashers. If he really goes on a crazy heater in his team’s remaining 13 games, he could even pass his former teammate Blake Wheeler for most points by a Jet. He has three points in his last five games, but all of the points were in 1 game. He’ll want to change that against a team that could be without a couple of star players again.