The Edmonton Oilers are set to host the Winnipeg Jets in a New Year’s Eve game as they look to end the rollercoaster year of 2017 on a positive note. Here are your game day notes.
1. The Jets are enjoying their best season in franchise history, dating back to their days in Atlanta. They currently own a 22-11-6 record and a .641 points percentage, putting them on pace for 105 points. Their best-ever total came in 2014-15 when they put up 99 points and made the playoffs for the first time since relocating north of the border.
2. A major key to Winnipeg’s success has been a potent offensive attack. They have five different players with at least 10 goals, Patrik Laine, Nik Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Blake Wheeler. They’re right in the middle of the pack in even strength expected goals for percentage based on shot volume, but they’re overachieving that number largely due to the immense amount of shooting skill on their roster.
3. Winnipeg’s offence also gets a major boost from the team’s power play. The team is scoring on 23.24 per cent of its power play opportunities, which ranks fourth in the league behind only Tampa Bay, Nashville, and Pittsburgh. Patrik Laine is the team’s big weapon on the power play. He finds open space around the top of the circle and fires Alex Ovechkin-esque rockets on net from his wheelhouse.
4. While there’s a lot of good things to say about Winnipeg’s offence, losing Mark Scheifele to injury is a huge blow. In Wednesday’s win over the Oilers in Winnipeg, Scheifele suffered an upper-body injury and won’t return for six-to-eight weeks. Right now, the Jets are filling his role as the first line centre with Blake Wheeler, who’s usually on the wing. Then, on the power play, bottom-six forward Adam Lowry has stepped in as the team’s first unit pivot. In their first game without Scheifele, the Jets took down the Islanders 4-2. Like I said, losing Scheifele is difficult, but the Jets boast a lot of depth up front.
5. Another reason for Winnipeg’s success that shouldn’t go unnoticed has been Connor Hellebuyck’s breakout season in net. The Jets inked Steve Mason to a two-year contract in the off-season, but Hellebuyck has taken control of the net and ran with it. He owns a .921 save percentage in 31 games played, which is the best performance in net the Jets have seen since Ondrej Pavelec posted a .920 save percentage in 2014-15.
6. After winning four games in a row before Christmas, their longest winning streak of the season, the Oilers have dropped back-to-back games. They lost 4-3 to Winnipeg in a game in which the Jets outshot them 39-25, then they battled back to force overtime against Chicago before losing 4-3. The Oilers now sit 13th in the Western Conference six points out of the final wild card spot. They have to climb over a lot of teams to work their way back into it, so there’s virtually no room for error.
At this point last year:
Oilers PP: 21.2% (8th)
Oilers PK: 82.0% (12th)
Standings: 5th in WestThis year:
Oilers PP: 16.7 (22nd)
Oilers PK: 73.7% (31st)
Standings: 14th in WestIf that doesn't tell you how important special teams are to a team's success I don't know what will
— Shane Sander ? (@SanderTHW) December 30, 2017
6. Edmonton’s special teams have continued to drag the team down. While the Oilers are playing well at even strength (they own the league’s third-best shot differential at even strength), their mediocre power play and brutal penalty kill largely erase that. Scoring goals on the man advantage was a strength of the team last season, but it hasn’t been this year. The penalty kill has been nothing short of a disaster as the team is allowing a power play goal in roughly one of every four opportunities. It was a major game changer in Friday’s game against Chicago as the Oilers played very well at even strength but gave up two goals on three man advantages.
7. Since being recalled from the AHL, Jesse Puljujarvi has posted eight goals in 21 games. That’s 31 goals over an 82-game pace. He doesn’t turn 20 years old until May. While last season was a struggle for Puljujarvi and many questioned whether the Oilers should have selected Clayton Keller or Matt Tkachuk with the No. 4 overall pick in 2016, it was only two years ago that the big Finn scored a historically-good 17 points in seven games for Finland at the World Juniors.
8. Scoring first is going to be a key in this game. The Jets are damn near unbeatable when they score first, owning a 17-1-4 record. The Oilers are also pretty good when carrying the first lead, owning a 10-4-2 record. The Jets are also 11-1-1 if they have a lead coming out of the first period, while the Oilers are 9-1 when leading after 20 minutes. Scoring first is important.
9. The Jets are a dominant team when playing in Winnipeg, but on the road they boast a good-but-not-great 8-8-5 record. The Oilers haven’t been good at home, owning a 8-10-1 record at Rogers Arena, but have been better recently. Before the loss in overtime to Chicago, Edmonton had won three games in a row at home.
10. If the Oilers win tonight, they’ll be at .500 heading into the New Year. I mean, not really .500 because of the overtime losses, but they’ll have an 18-18-3 record which, to many, is .500. I think in the middle of November when things looked like pure doom, we all would have taken a .500 record heading into 2018. Hopefully the Oilers can win this one and get something going in the New Year.
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Source: NHL, Official Game Page, 12/31/2017 – 9:00am MST
I’m not saying Gretzky s 51
Pts game streak is in jeopardy
But 43 more games and
is gonna have a real look
Leon will have a
look
If this game is as good as the one the other day in Winnipeg, game attendees are in for a real show.
“New Year, New Me” – The Oilers
This one will get very physical . I expect Lucic , Maroon , Kassian & Nurse to have huge games paving the way to an Oiler victory .
It’s going to be a Ring a Ding Dong Dandy!
The Jets are just too fast. I expect lots of odd man rushes. Hopefully the Oilers can keep it close?
It 3-0 already…yikes. It’s like watching a Labrador Retriever try to catch a Rabbit.
Too fast for the Bruinized Oilers.
Winnipeg has a very good power play and the Oilers are an NHL record worst on the PK at home. The idiots running the special teams behind the bench are still being rewarded with employment. And since the refs refuse to call any blatant interference infractions against Connor the Oilers are going to have to score a lot at 5×5. Come out and play like they did in the 4 game winning streak we’ll have some hope again. Play like they did against Chicago… please don’t. Just win so we can start the year at the Bettman .500
Pouliot would have been helpful to pk. To bad we are paying him to kill penalties elsewhere
That buyout is looking really bad with all the cap space we are carrying.
maybe they called up Michael Huchinson just for this game and will surprise everyone and throw him in and after he wins they’ll send him back down to the AHL. #becauseOilers.
The Oiler D are going to be pressured to no end tonite…… run ragged! Time to get Kassian off the PK.His only play is to go for the shorty breakaway.He hangs around the blue line. Letestu cant win a board battle to safe his soul.
paybacks tonight for the dirty boarding of a star?
I remember many hear outraged about Conner being boarded and suggesting the league needs to “protect the stars” like Scheifle