Game Notes Hurricanes @ Oilers: Edmonton Dominates Metro Division
By Jason Gregor
4 years agoThe @Edmonton Oilers look to continue their early season dominance over the Metropolitan division tonight when they host the @Carolina Hurricanes. The Oilers are 8-0 against the Metro. This is their first meeting against the Hurricanes, but they’ve defeated all of the other seven teams, including the New Jersey Devils twice. Last year the Oilers were 7-7-2 against the Metro. The year prior, they were 6-8-2.
A main reason they sit first in the Pacific Division is their dominance over the Metro Division and the Pacific (8-3-1), and they need to continue that tonight.
1. Edmonton has not only won those eight games, they dominated them, outscoring teams 32-14. I have no idea why, to be honest, as half of those teams are very competitive. Washington sits first in the NHL, the Islanders third, Philadelphia eighth and Pittsburgh ninth. The Oilers are +8 (GF-GA) in four games against those teams while they are +10 in four games against the Rangers (18th place in NHL), Columbus (27th) and the Devils (30th).
2. @Oscar Klefbom is playing with a nagging foot injury he suffered while blocking a shot against the Senators. He hasn’t killed penalties the past two games, and once he is healthy I’d have him as the fifth D-man on the PK. He plays a lot at EV and on the PP, so I’d let Adam Larsson and Kris Russell be the main PK guys.
3. It seems the Oilers depth forwards have found their scoring touch. They won’t be an elite offensive group by any means, but over their past 18 games they’ve combined for 18 goals. The top-five scorers on the Oilers have 33 goals in that span. If you go by 5×5 scoring, the top-five have 20 goals, while the depth forwards have produced 15. I’d argue the Oilers need more 5×5 scoring from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and James Neal right now than they do from their bottom forwards. RNH has two 5×5 goals since November 1st, and only two all season, while Neal has one since November 1st. They need more 5×5 production from their second line and it might come in the form of @Jujhar Khaira, who has five goals since the start of November.
4. RNH will skate with @Leon Draisaitl and Khaira tonight and I suspect this is about trying to get some more offence out of #93 at 5×5. Draisaitl leads the NHL with 30 points at 5×5, while RNH only has seven in 26 games. He is capable of more and if he starts producing 5×5, the Oilers will be in a much more favourable spot. His 1.26 P/60 at 5×5 is the second lowest of his career. He was at 1.75 last year and 1.96 in 2018.
5. The top line has allowed too many goals against recently and that could be a reason we see them split up. They are still producing a lot, but McDavid is -6 in the past 11 games while Draisaitl is -12. The Oilers didn’t allow an empty-net goal in that span, but two were at 3×3. So at 5×5, they were -4 and -10 respectively. They aren’t directly at fault on all of those goals, of course, but it is a stat they will want to improve. Draisaitl was +10 through the first 21 games while McDavid was +7.
6. Here is the Oilers scoring last year compared to this season, as well as the Hurricanes scoring, through 32 games.
| TEAM | TOP-5 FORWARDS | REST OF FORWARDS | DEFENCE |
| 2018/19 | 63 (141) | 16 (46) | 12 (56) |
| EDMONTON | 67 (150) | 19 (57) | 9 (55) |
| CAROLINA | 50 (115) | 22 (68) | 23 (77) |
7. The Hurricanes defence has the second most goals, and fourth most points, of any blueline combination in the NHL. They join the rush a lot and lead the NHL with 22 EV goals. Dougie Hamilton has nine EV goals alone, and Edmonton needs to be aware of him joining the rush, but also being active in the offensive zone when Carolina has possession.
8. The Hurricanes miss Erik Haula. He is still third on their team in goals among forwards with eight, despite not playing a game since injuring his knee on November 16th. He had eight goals in 16 games before his injury.
9. The Canes’ top two goal scorers are on separate lines. Andrei Svechnikov (13-19-32) plays left wing with @Jordan Staal and @Warren Foegele, while @Sebastian Aho (16-11-27) centres @Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen. Teravainen is having a really good season as well producing 7-22-29. The Canes’ powerplay flows through Svechnikov and Teravainen right now as each has 13 points on the man advantage.
10. The special teams battle will be fun to watch tonight. The Oilers PP remains tops in the NHL at 32.3%, but the Hurricanes have the third best PK at 85.6%. The Canes PP is ninth best at 21.5%, while the Oilers PK sits second at 87.0%. The Oilers home PP is 32.6% and their PK is 82.6%, while the Canes road PP is 17% and their PK is 87%. Both teams are pretty consistent regardless of where they play.
11. The Hurricanes and Oilers have each had 93 powerplays thus far, but the Canes have played two fewer games, however in two fewer games Carolina has taken more penalties, 104, to Edmonton’s 100. The Canes average the 5th most penalty kills per game at 3.46.
MONTH OF GIVING…
Huge shout out to Curtis and his amazing bid of $12,250 on the Farmer’s Business Network package yesterday. Awesome.
Day 7 Package #1: REALTOR FEES from Michelle Derk
- Up for grabs is the seller’s commission for your house. (In a
regular sale half the commission goes to the seller realtor and half to
the buyer. So this is $3.5% on the first $100,000 and $1.5% on the
balance).
On a $500,000 house that is a value of $9,500.00. On a $600,000 house that is a value of $11,000.00. and so on.
Package #2: Beliveau Jersey and Oilers/Habs Loge Seats
- A Vintage signed Jean Beliveau jersey courtesy of Jeff Woods.
- A pair of Loge Ledge seats and a $100 Food and Beverage tab for the Oilers/Habs game on Saturday, December 21st courtesy of Marc Cardinal.
You can bid by listening to TSN 1260 and calling 780.444.1260 or text 101260 between 2-6 p.m. today. All proceeds will help Santas Anonymous.
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