GDB 59.0: Thar She Blows (2pm MT, SNW)

4 years ago

Wrapping up their back-to-back weekend, the @Edmonton Oilers will look for a second straight win as they land in Raleigh, North Carolina, for a Sunday afternoon date with the @Carolina Hurricanes.

I don’t know about you guys, but I can still feel my heart filling with hatred any time I see the Hurricanes coming up on the schedule. Even though the Oilers’ Cup loss happened 14 years ago and many fans have since moved on, I still feel like I’m out here living in the jungle and waiting for the war to continue. Forever vigilant, forever ready. Basically, what I’m getting at here is that the Hurricanes are always and will always be a must-win game for me, and the fact that the boys haven’t beaten them since 2018 is like a kick to the pills for my Oiler loving heart. Bluntly, this is a win that has to happen. Not only do the Oilers need the points to further solidify their spot in the mega tight Pacific Division, but they also need to remedy this losing streak to the Hurricanes as a means of hugging our inside feelings. It’s a thing, you know. Besides, wouldn’t it be nice to see the boys come out with a perfect weekend? Of course it would.

Seeing as this is the second half in a back-to-back weekend, the Oilers would do themselves a world of good by playing another simple game and not trying to do too much with the puck, especially with the state of the roster as it sits thanks to some tough injuries and a Kassian suspension thrown in for good measure. Rather than trying to force plays, I’m talkin’ about going back to basics and building out from there. I’m talkin’ about supporting each other with clean outlets to pass to, shooting the puck from absolutely everywhere, and crashing the net to look for garbage opportunities. They did it yesterday in Florida, and I believe they can do it again. If the boys are coming into today’s game with any degree of tired legs, keeping things as simple as possible will give them the best chance of producing against a stingy defensive team while also keeping a balanced Hurricanes offence at bay.

When these two teams met up back in December, the Hurricanes were able to put up six goals from six different players while the Oilers spun their wheels both offensively and defensively, something that (obviously) cannot happen in today’s rematch.

THE NUMBERS

	OILERS	HURRICANES
RECORD	31-21-6	33-21-3
WIN/LOSS STREAK	W1	W1
LAST 10 GAMES	6-3-1	6-3-1
GOALS FOR	186	186
GOALS AGAINST	180	159
POWER PLAY%	29.4	21.6
PENALTY KILL%	83.8	82.7
AVG. SHOTS/FOR	29.9	32.9
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST	31.5	29.5
TEAM SAVE%	.901	.905
CORSI FOR%	48.06	54.25
PDO	0.993	0.996
TEAM SHOOTING%	8.33	7.93
EXPECTED GOALS FOR%	48.90	52.46

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

Edmonton are 10-5 SU in their last 15 games. – From OddsShark.com

LINEUPS…

Oilers

RNH – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Benson – Sheahan – Archibald
Gagner – Haas – Chiasson
Khaira – Cave – P. Russell

Klefbom – Larsson
Nurse – Bear
Jones – Benning

Smith

After winning yesterday’s game with a strong road effort, I’m curious to see if Dave Tippett will make any adjustments to the lineup. Outside of @Markus Granlund maybe finding his way in (maybe for Jujhar Khaira or Colby Cave?), I don’t see any other changes that make sense outside of @Mike Smith getting the start, but I guess, we’ll just have to wait and see how things play out. At the time of posting, no lineup notes have been released but I’ll be sure to jump in and adjust as news comes out.

Hurricanes

Svechnikov – Aho – Teravainen
Foegele – Staal – Necas
Dzingel – Haula – Niederreiter
McGinn – Wallmark – Williams

Slavin – Van Riemsdyk
Gardiner – Pesce
Fleury – Edmundson

Mrazek

Last time the Oilers faced the Hurricanes, this top line was a real problem and I can’t imagine much is going to change for the rematch. Over and above that top trio, the Hurricanes have guys that can burn you sprinkled through their top nine and it will be up to the Oilers’ forwards to make sure that they’re aware of where they all are at any given moment.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…

From Cardiac Cane:

The main problem in the last handful of games for the Hurricanes have been lack of possession and playing way too much in their own zone. Against the New Jersey Devils, they had the upper hand and lots of credit can be given to the fore-checking and puck-moving ability of the first and newly formed second line.
Lots of blame have been placed on goaltending and defense of this team, but you can’t expect your defense and goalies to bail your offense out every time, if you’re playing in your own end the entire game. With more time to breathe and play in all three zones, the Hurricanes defense can make line changes and goalies don’t have to be on their feet every night.
We can’t just assume that Rod Brind’Amour will roll the same first two lines out against the Oilers, but we can only advise that it would be a wise decision. It’s February and it’s grind time to see whether this team is going to buy or sell at the trade deadline, for preparation of the Stanley Cup Playoffs or move on to the next season.

TONIGHT…

Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk

Game Day Prediction: The Oilers continue their hot streak in the second game of back-to-back sets and walk away with a 4-2 win.

Obvious Game Day Prediction: @Leon Draisaitl continues his NHL rampage tour and adds another two assists to his total.

Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Seeing as the Daytona 500 happens today, I’d expect that the Carolina crowd consists mostly of player family members and ushers with nothing to do. Also, and I know I posted this in yesterday’s GDB as well, today is the day when Patrick Russell finally gets his first NHL goal and gives me the opportunity to throw this NSOGDP in Gregor’s face.

PRAY FOR PLAYOFFS

The boys are in the mix and we’re looking ahead to April. Please, Hockey Gords, make it so. Competitive games in February! Exclusively at NationGear.ca.

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