Edmonton Oilers Pregame

Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- April 14, 2025
The battle of the depleted lineups was amusing. Winnipeg didn’t have Josh Morrissey or Connor Hellebuyck playing last night, just for Playoff resting reasons. But they do have injuries to Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers. And now, Dylan Samberg is bound to miss time due to leaving the game after blocking a slap shot. Adam […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- April 9, 2025
Edmonton Oilers fans stayed up past 1 AM Eastern Time for that? Just once, I’d like Lukas Dostal to play one bad game against the Oilers. Is only one bad game too much to ask? The final shots total was 47-21, favouring Edmonton, and, if you like to go by the Deserve To Win O’Meter, […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- April 7, 2025
At least one unpleasant result without the Edmonton Oilers stars was bound to happen. I feel bad for Jeff Malott. Even if you’re the team that gets scored on, having someone’s first NHL goal get called back is the most uncool thing ever. He joined the Kings in late March and has played in 7 […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- April 5, 2025
For the next two weeks before the Playoffs start, I call on a mandate for every player on the team to wear bubble wrap on their equipment. At one point in the second period, when the Oilers had a power play opportunity, I noticed Adam Henrique taking a one-timer on the spot where we’d normally […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- April 3, 2025
Bruce McCurdy, a long-time hockey writer for the Edmonton Journal, passed away on Tuesday night shortly after the Oilers win in Vegas. Along with the journal, he also co-hosted the Cult Of Hockey podcast with fellow Oilers writer David Staples. His son Kevin tweeted out this news yesterday. Our thoughts, prayers and well wishes go […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- March 29, 2025
In 2023, I attended an Oilers game in my home city of Toronto. That is still the longest second period I’ve ever sat through, but Thursday night was pretty close. Put aside the trip to Seattle, this team has actually done a solid job at gutting it out and scoring goals without Connor McDavid or […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- March 26, 2025
The 4th goal Edmonton allowed while the crowd sang Livin’ On A Prayer was a reversal of Evander Kane’s goal in the second round last year. Did anyone else think that, or just me? I wouldn’t call Saturday night’s win the prettiest, but given recent circumstances, it was still impressive. Hard to complain too much […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- March 20, 2025
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 […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- March 16, 2025
Mike Smith set up OT winners before it was cool. After the Overtime winner was scored, Leon Draisaitl was asked about Calvin Pickard’s play with the puck to set him up. He called him “a heart and soul of the team”. It’s no secret that Edmonton’s goalie tandem have struggled this season compared to last. […]
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Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts
- Stephen Vani
- March 14, 2025
Just when we thought there’d be no loss, it pulled us back in. Losing last night felt worse than losing the Buffalo game, if you can believe it. The Devils don’t have their #1 centerman, and they now also have their #1 defenseman out, and they played their backup goalie(who is actually good). The home […]
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