GDB 26.0: Prepare for Battle (8pm MT, HNIC)

Photo credit:Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

3 years ago

After the debacle we watched this past week in the series against the Leafs, the Oilers are under a world’s worth of pressure to get themselves back on track and I can think of no better opportunity to take the first step in making that happen than here tonight in the 246th edition of the Battle of Alberta.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this past week has easily been the most trying for the Oilers so far this season, and that the team is now under a world of pressure to right the ship and get back on track in short order. The problem, of course, is that we have no idea what happened or how it’s possible that the Oilers went from looking like world-beaters just over a week ago to seemingly having zero offensive confidence to speak of, but they’re going to need to figure that out against a Flames team that has started to pick it up of late. Calgary is 3-2-1 over their last six games and has scored 21 goals over that stretch, which accounts for nearly 1/3 of their total offence on the year and tells me that the Oilers are going to need to be careful with their puck choices and defensive coverage as to not get burned. As much as I’m hoping for a repeat of the last time these two teams met, I just don’t think it’ll be that easy.

The good news, hopefully, is that the Oilers never have issues getting fired up for a game against the Flames and I’m feeling positive that the trend will continue here in round four. That said, the Oilers also had some decent starts in terms of their energy and openings against the Leafs before the milk went bad, so it bears repeating that we’ll need a total team effort from the crease on out over the full 60 minutes if they’re going to get the job done. As much as I hate spouting off these kinds of cliches during a losing streak, it’s impossible not to think of these things after watching the Oilers get dummied for extended stretches of the last three games. If they can do that, then I think we’re going to be okay. If not, we may be in for another rough evening and I can guarantee you that this is an outcome that everyone associated with the organization will want to avoid.

Let’s see what the numbers say…

THE NUMBERS

	OILERS	FLAMES
RECORD	14-11-0	11-11-2
WIN/LOSS STREAK	L3	W1
LAST 10 GAMES	6-4-0	4-5-1
GOALS FOR	80	66
GOALS AGAINST	78	73
POWER PLAY%	25.9	21.4
PENALTY KILL%	76.3	78.8
AVG. SHOTS/FOR	30.7	29.3
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST	32.0	31.1
TEAM SAVE%	.912	.925
CORSI FOR%	49.13	50.62
PDO	0.997	1.006
TEAM SHOOTING%	8.53	8.03
EXPECTED GOALS FOR%	50.50	51.02

Numbers courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (fancies at 5×5)

LINEUPS…

Oilers

RNH – McDavid – Puljujarvi
Kahun – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Shore – Khaira – Archibald
Neal – Haas – Chiasson

Nurse- Barrie
Jones – Bear
Russell – Larsson

Smith

It’s still hard to believe that a team with @Connor McDavid and @Leon Draisaitl on it was only able to score one goal of the course of a three-game series but I suspect that will change tonight against the Flames. I mean, how long can one reasonably expect to keep these two quiet?

As of this morning, no lineup news has been released quite yet but these are the line combos that Dave Tippett put together yesterday in practice. I’ll be sure to jump in an update if anything changes.

Flames

Tkachuk-Lindholm-Dube
Gaudreau-Monahan-Leivo
Lucic-Backlund-Mangiapane
Nordstrom-Ryan-Ritchie

Giordano-Andersson
Hanifin-Tanev
Valimaki-Nesterov

Markstrom

The thing that makes me nervous about this game is that the Flames are rolling into town with a (old) new coach behind the bench because I fear the post-firing bump that a lot of teams get when they make a move like this. Now, I know the post-firing bump doesn’t happen all the time — look at Montreal — but it does still make me nervous because it adds another potential variable that I don’t think the Oilers need right now when they’re trying to pull themselves out of the dumps.

***UPDATE*** Markstrom back in for the Flames

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…

From Flamesnation:

For those keeping track, Sutter is the fifth coach for Treliving as GM (and the fifth coach for many of the team’s core players). According to Treliving, the hiring of a coach like Sutter – whose three-year contract was neither confirmed or denied by the GM – is aimed to stop the coaching churn.
“The message to the players is the coach they’ve got now isn’t going anywhere,” said Treliving. “And it’s now on the players to perform… I just felt strongly over the course of the last little bit that our team was under-performing. It needed this change. This change was required. Not only was a change required, Darryl was required. We needed Darryl. This team needs Darryl and what he can bring.”
Sutter referenced emphasizing a team mentality several times. He made his mindset towards his new/old gig pretty clear when discussing his close relationship with the Flames’ ownership over the years.
“It’s like I have a debt to play to them guys. We’re going to win a Stanley Cup for them.”

TONIGHT…

Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk

Game Day Prediction: The Oilers get a huge multi-point night from their captain, stop the bleeding, and grab two points with a 4-2 win.

Obvious Game Day Prediction: Connor and Leon could not be denied forever.

Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Despite not being with the team at Rogers Place, Darryl Sutter sent his assistant coaches to wander the concourse pre-game in pursuit of the fabled Bobby Nicks Burger.

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