GDB 39.0: Find a Way (5pm MT, SNW)

Photo credit:Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

4 years ago

Happy Saturday, fair Nation citizens, here we are with a fresh GDB to get us all set for tonight’s matchup between the @Edmonton Oilers and @Montreal Canadiens. After a tough loss last night against Pittsburgh, the Oilers won’t have to wait long for an opportunity to bounce back and try to get themselves back on track. Here’s hoping that the boys can finish off their weekend with a better result.

For the second week in a row, the Oilers find themselves riding shotgun in the early slot on Saturday night for Hockey Night in Canada, and this time around, with the Habs in town, Rogers Place will once again be invaded by another team’s fans. And while I don’t find Montreal’s fans to be quite as annoying as Leafs nation, they still take over half of our building just like some kind of plague or a virus that has no known vaccine and it’s incredibly frustrating to watch, especially if our boys come out on the wrong side of the scoreboard as we saw against Toronto a week ago. Needless to say, we need to send these folks home unhappy. I don’t want to spend another Saturday night annoyed by the fact that the Oilers are letting the wheels fall off without much of a fight, ya know?

Going up against the surging Canadiens, the Oilers are going to need to make sure that they’re doing a much better job of puck management than we’ve seen over the past couple of games and that has to happen in all three zones. They can’t be giving up pucks at either blue line, they can’t fly the defensive zone early in hopes of catching Montreal’s defence napping, and they have to do a better job of throwing pucks on net and crashing the crease for rebounds. All season long, I’ve been waiting for the boys to get greasy out there and maybe today will be time when that finally happens. With offence being as tough to generate as it is right now, the Oilers actually find themselves with a negative goal differential after starting the season at a +13, the boys need to find ways to score without lapsing on their defensive responsibilities.

With two games left before the Christmas break, the Oilers desperately need to add some points to their totals and stop this tailspin they find themselves in. I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t help but feel that we’re already getting into must-win territory as the team has now lost six of their last seven games and losing ground fast.

THE NUMBERS

	OILERS	CANADIENS
RECORD	19-15-4	17-12-6
WIN/LOSS STREAK	L2	W2
LAST 10 GAMES	3-6-1	6-3-1
GOALS FOR	111	112
GOALS AGAINST	117	111
POWER PLAY%	29.8	21.2
PENALTY KILL%	84.3	75.2
AVG. SHOTS/FOR	29.2	35.1
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST	31.5	31.7
TEAM SAVE%	.903	.901
CORSI FOR%	47.62	53.74
PDO	0.987	0.999
TEAM SHOOTING%	7.78	7.86
EXPECTED GOALS FOR%	48.27	53.64

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

LINEUPS…

Oilers

RNH – McDavid – Kassian
Neal – Draisaitl – Gagner
Nygard – Haas – Chiasson
Khaira – Sheahan – Archibald

Klefbom – Larsson
Nurse – Bear
Russell – Jones

Koskinen

At the time of posting, no line combos have been released so I don’t know exactly who will be playing where so I’ve got yesterday’s lines in as a placeholder. What we do know is that @Mikko Koskinen will be back between the pipes and looking to continue his run of stellar play, and I could not be happier about it after struggling with yesterday’s goaltending performance.

Canadiens

Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Lehkonen – Domi – Armia
Cousins – Suzuki – Weal
Poehling – Thompson – Barber

Chiarot – Weber
Kulak – Petry
Fleury – Reilly

Price

Looking at Montreal’s stats page, it’s clear that they get points from throughout their lineup and that’s going to be a challenge for the Oilers to manage. Once again, I feel like the battle of the depth lines will play a major factor in today’s outcome and it’ll be up to the Oilers’ bottom six to find ways to outproduce their counterparts.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…

From Habs Eyes on the Prize:

Thursday night’s clash with the Calgary Flames was a rollicking, chaotic game, capped off with an overtime-winner from a struggling star. Max Domi’s emphatic “LET’S GO BOYS” celebration was a great redemption ending in a game where he could have easily been at fault for costing the team two points. It was a tale of two games for Domi, but it ended on a high note for him for the first time in a while.
With the game was tied at two goals apiece, Domi had the puck and made a strong move through the slot in front of David Rittich. It seemed like an eternity that Domi held onto the puck, causing me to scream in near agony that he had to shoot it. Domi then held up, and tried to flick a weak backhand pass to no one in particular, a head-scratching choice considering he was surrounded by three Flames players. The play transitioned the other way, and in the Canadiens’ end Oliver Kylington rifled one over Carey Price’s shoulder to put Calgary back on top.
Despite the team rebounding after an eight-game skid it seemed like Domi was gripping his stick too hard, or overthinking plays. His game-winner in Calgary should be just what he needs to get his confidence back. It looked like a 900-pound gorilla came off his shoulders as he celebrated with the Canadiens faithful in Calgary, hopefully a moment he will now carry with him as the season goes on.

TONIGHT…

Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk

Game Day Prediction: Oilers get a big special teams game and walk away with a 4-3 win.

Obvious Game Day Prediction: Like some kind of horrific echo, the Ole, Ole chant breaks out at least three separate times at Rogers Place and becomes progressively more annoying each time.

Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Mikko Koskinen not only continues his run of spectacular play but he also registers his first assist of the season after sending an outlet pass to Connor McDavid that sends the captain flying down the ice, finishing off the play with a beautiful solo effort that results in a goal.

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