GDB 34.0: Fishing for First Place (8pm MT, HNIC)

3 years ago

Welcome, dear Internet friends, to a brand new GDB that’s here to help us all get prepared for the second game of the mini-series between our beloved Edmonton Oilers and the Winnipeg Jets.

On Thursday night, the Oilers pulled out one of the best overall defensive efforts that we’ve seen from them in a while and they did a really nice job of limiting the Jets’ ability to produce quality scoring chances. It was a low scoring grind of a game that was the complete opposite of what happened the night before against the Flames, reminding us all that the Oilers can win this flavour of hockey game if they need to. The run and gun games are always a great time to watch, but it’s the close ones that they’ll need to win in the playoffs. Sure, Winnipeg had more shots on goal than the Oilers did but a good chunk of them came from the outside of the ice and were easily handled by Koskinen. From start to finish, the boys did what they needed to do to win the game despite everything the Jets tried to do to come back. What the Jets did not do, however, was figure out a way to contain Connor McDavid. From start to finish, the captain was fantastic, looked like a man on a mission, and it was a real pleasure to watch him power his team to an important win.

Coming into the second half of this series, the Oilers have the chance to not only grab sole possession of first place but also to put a tiny bit of ground between themselves, the Jets, and the rest of the North Division teams that are chasing them. I know another two points won’t give them much space by any means, but with another tough week coming up on the schedule (Montreal x3, Toronto x1), I can’t think of a better way for the boys to finish up this four-game segment than with another win over the team that’s immediately behind them in the standings. It won’t be easy, though, the Oilers and Jets have split the first two series of the year and you’d have to imagine that Winnipeg will be doing everything they can to achieve the same result the third time around. Even so, if the Oilers can maintain the same level of play that we’ve seen from them all week long and the big boys continue to roll, then I’m thinking that we should be heading into Sunday in a celebratory mood.

Let’s see what the numbers say…

THE NUMBERS

	OILERS	JETS
RECORD	20-13-0	18-10-2
WIN/LOSS STREAK	W2	L1
LAST 10 GAMES	6-4-0	5-4-1
GOALS FOR	112	98
GOALS AGAINST	95	87
POWER PLAY%	27.8	25.6
PENALTY KILL%	76.3	77.8
AVG. SHOTS/FOR	31.1	29.5
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST	31.0	31.5
TEAM SAVE%	.917	.921
CORSI FOR%	49.40	47.69
PDO	1.010	1.004
TEAM SHOOTING%	9.30	8.30
EXPECTED GOALS FOR%	51.11	46.26

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

vs. Winnipeg (2020-21) — 5GP: 3-2-0 — 18 GF, 18 GA

LINEUPS…

Oilers UPDATED

RNH – McDavid – Puljujarvi
Kahun – Draisaitl – Archibald
Ennis – Haas – Kassian
Shore – Khaira – Chiasson

Nurse – Barrie
Lagesson – Larsson
Russell – Bear

Smith

At the time of posting, neither the media nor the team has announced any lineup changes for tonight’s rematch so I’ve got Thursday’s line combos listed above with the exception being Mike Smith back in net. As always, I’ll be sure to jump in and make the edits as news becomes available.

***UPDATE*** Reid Wilkins just tweeted out the lineups and it looks like Caleb Jones is coming out, which isn’t exactly surprising given that he played the fewest minutes of any defenceman on Thursday night. Also, can I admit how surprised I am to see Jujhar already back in the lineup?

Jets

Statsny – Scheifele – Wheeler
Connor – Dubois – Ehlers
Copp – Lowry – Appleton
Perreault – Thompson – Lewis

Morrissey – Demelo
Forbort – Pionk
Stanley – Poolman

Hellebuyck

For as quiet as the Jets’ forwards were on Thursday night, I wouldn’t bet on the same thing happening all that often and I’ll be watching to see how the Oilers will be able to manage what will surely be a hungry group.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…

From Jetsnation.ca:

Coming into this game, the Jets were focused on keeping the Oilers’ skaters to the perimeter and limiting their scoring chances in the middle of the ice, which is one of the best ways to slow down a high-powered offense. While they were largely effective in executing this gameplan, a couple of errors came back to bite them in this showdown as McDavid scored both of his goals off them.
Committing the first mistake early in the second period, defenseman Josh Morrissey didn’t make a big enough effort to retrieve a dump-in along the boards, providing the young superstar an opportunity to score from the left faceoff circle. Later in the middle frame, veteran Derek Forbort mistakenly pinched in the neutral zone and ultimately fell behind the play, allowing McDavid to create a two-on-one rush before netting his second goal of the game.

TONIGHT…

Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk

Game Day Prediction: The Oilers get an early goal from the bottom six that sets them on the path to a 4-2 win.

Obvious Game Day Prediction: @Connor McDavid and @Leon Draisaitl each get a point.

Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Connor McDavid will get credit for being the best player on earth even though it pains some of the broadcast team to compliment him over Auston Matthews.

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