GDB 25.0: Let’s try this again (7pm MST, SNW)
By baggedmilk
5 years agoAfter dropping a 5-2 loss in LA on Sunday night, the Edmonton Oilers are back in action and looking for revenge with the Kings in town for the rematch.
Alright, so let’s start out by assuming there’s no possible way that today’s game can possibly be as bad as Sunday’s was, right? RIGHT!? If I’m being totally honest, I can’t help but feel nervous about tonight’s matchup given how horrible things went on the weekend. Even though the Kings are scraping the bottom of the NHL standings, we’re only four days removed from watching the league’s worst team dummy our beloved Oilers like they were still in the middle of the Eakins era, and it’s an annoyance that I haven’t yet forgotten. They were so bad on Sunday night that I felt personally offended for spending three hours of my life watching it, and I’ve been having swarm flashbacks all week as well. That can’t happen again. Full stop.
If the Oilers are going to actually handle their business and get two points from the Kings, they’ll basically have to do the complete opposite of absolutely everything they did on Sunday. They need to go back and watch the tape, take notes, and do their damndest to learn from the mistakes because they were not at all dialled in. Their start was poor, the goaltending was mediocre, the offence was non-existent, and, to be honest, they looked like they were battling relegation more so than competing for a playoff spot. Even with the two empty-net goals that bloated the final score, it’s hard to look back at that game and find much in the way of positives. Outside of the Alex Chiasson’s two goal performance and a few other moral victories, it was the kind of game you’d want to drink enough to forget about.
Coming into tonight’s game, the Kings roll into town on a two-game win streak but haven’t really looked all that much better since Desjardins took over behind the bench. As Cam wrote in the game notes this morning, the Kings are 5-6-0 since making their coaching change and four of those victories have come against teams currently outside of the playoff picture, including the one against the Oilers. As much as they looked like a decent team in that game, it’s important to remember how bad they are and how this should absolutely be classified as a must win for our boys. We know all too well what it’s like to be at the bottom of the league’s standings and getting shelled on a nightly basis and it would be really nice to be on the giving end of that for once. I thought it would happen four days ago but they failed miserably, but thankfully we have another chance to make things right.
Like Sunday night, the Oilers have another excellent opportunity to gain two points against a struggling team and they had better make damned sure to take advantage of it this time.
NUMBERS
| OILERS | KINGS | |
| RECORD | 11-11-2 | 9-14-1 |
| WIN/LOSS STREAK | W1 | W2 |
| GOALS FOR | 65 | 53 |
| GOALS AGAINST | 76 | 75 |
| POWER PLAY | 21.1 | 14.7 |
| PENALTY KILL | 75.6 | 74.6 |
| AVG. SHOTS/FOR | 31.1 | 28.0 |
| AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST | 29.8 | 31.3 |
| TEAM SAVE% | .903 | .908 |
| CORSI FOR% | 50.47 | 50.05 |
| PDO | 98.27 | 98.8 |
| TEAM SHOOTING% | 6.03 | 6.13 |
| EXPECTED GOALS FOR% | 51.66 | 49.36 |
Numbers courtesy of Corsica (fancies at 5×5)
LINEUP…
Oilers
Draisaitl – McDavid – Chiasson
Caggiula – RNH – Puljujarvi
Lucic – Brodziak – Kassian
Khaira – Spooner – P.Russell
Caggiula – RNH – Puljujarvi
Lucic – Brodziak – Kassian
Khaira – Spooner – P.Russell
Klefbom – Larsson
Nurse – Russell
Gravel – Benning
Nurse – Russell
Gravel – Benning
Koskinen
According to friend of the Nation, Reid Wilkins, there will be no changes to tonight’s lineup apart from Kevin Gravel replacing Jason Garrison on the back end. It makes sense given the win against Dallas. Ty Rattie, Jason Garrison, and Chris Wideman will all be healthy scratches.
Kings
Iafallo – Kopitar – Brown
Kovalchuk – Carter – Toffoli
Hagelin – Kempe – Luff
Clifford – Thompson – Wagner
Kovalchuk – Carter – Toffoli
Hagelin – Kempe – Luff
Clifford – Thompson – Wagner
Forbot – Doughty
Muzzin – Martinez
Phaneuf – Fantenberg
Muzzin – Martinez
Phaneuf – Fantenberg
Quick
I said this on Sunday and I’m going to say it again now: Who are most of these people? The LA Kings are a bad hockey team and I will not stand for the Oilers losing to them again. Seriously, though, take a minute to look at the roster and tell me that this shouldn’t be a winnable game.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…
So, you may have noticed that the LA Kings are again using an unorthodox forward grouping. Ilya Kovalchuk has been bumped down to the fourth line alongside Nate Thompson and rookie Sheldon Rempal, while Kyle Clifford was promoted to the second line alongside Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli. “He’s a guy that works hard and he plays hard. He’s been a good factor,” Willie Desjardins said. “I’ve seen him a lot in the highlights, and that’s good for us.”Obviously, the story here is Kovalchuk, who signed a lucrative three-year contract on July 1 after a competitive courtship process in which he cited a desire to win and the ability to play with high-caliber players as reasons behind his decision to sign with Los Angeles.“They said that they were really interested in me, and that was the most important because before I came here, I wanted to go to the team that really sees me where I can be productive,” he said on July 14. The Kings are a league-worst 8-14-1 through 23 games, and their prized free agent signing appeared in only six minutes and 20 seconds of Sunday’s 5-2 win over Edmonton.
TONIGHT…
Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk
Game Day Prediction: After sucking farts against the Kings in their first meeting of the season, the Oilers are able to avenge that loss with a 4-2 win.
Obvious Game Day Prediction: The officiating will be horrible again and Connor McDavid will get hooked and slashed at least 30-40 times before getting a call.
Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Inspired by Oscar Klefbom scoring his first goal of the season against the Dallas Stars, Adam Larsson gets in the mix with a second-period marker.
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Source: NHL, Official Game Page, 11/28/2018 – 12:00 pm MST
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