GDB 61.0: Goin’ back to Cali (8pm MST, SNW)

Photo credit:Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

6 years ago

When the Oilers were last in Los Angeles, it was in the midst of their death run of six straight losses. Needless to say, the Oilers are going to need to get more out of everyone if they hope to leave the Staples Center with two points in hand.

Coming into today’s game, the Oilers are limping their way towards the finish line as fans of the team are looking for answers and accountability as to why this happened in the first place. Despite Thursday night’s win, the points haven’t flowed as we had hoped for the 2017-18 season and all we can do is look at next year. For a team that was supposed to be a contender, they’re producing slightly better to what we saw in the Eakins era and that’s a tough pill to swallow. That’s unacceptable for a team that not only has Connor McDavid on the roster but was only a goal away from making the Western Conference Finals less than 12 months ago. On the bright side, we’re not selling like the Senators and there’s really nowhere to go but up!

At this point in the year, it goes without saying that the Oilers need to be better in basically every aspect of their game, and the fact that they’re unable to accomplish that consistently is endlessly upsetting. They’ll have one great game and follow it up with a turd and the tale of two teams is really starting to get old. From fans to the OEG, I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet that can be satisfied with this season, and I hate that I have to try and look for silver linings as the ship is sinking to the bottom of the ocean. I don’t want to be negative about the Oilers anymore, but it’s hard to put sunshine on a turd farm and it’s a card that I wasn’t prepared to play this season.

To beat the Kings today, the Oilers will need to make sure that they’re locked in on the small details that helped them close out a win against Colorado. Despite giving up a two-goal lead, they were able to settle into their game and found a way to stop the bleeding to close out a win. That resiliency would come in handy this weekend. Above that, they need to tighten up their breakouts, keep passes on the tape, and do what they can to try and eliminate unnecessary possession time for the Kings, a problem that killed them two weeks ago. In the last game, the Oilers were coughing up pucks like your phlegmy aunt that always sits by herself at family functions. If they can eliminate those giveaways and make sure their puck choices are sound, then the Oilers have a solid chance of winning this hockey game. That’s something I would like to see today.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

Milan Lucic has now reached 24 games without a goal, the longest such stretch of his NHL career. During Tuesday night’s game against the Bruins, the panel talked about all the things he’s doing differently to try and snap the slump, but I think he’ll have to head back to the drawing board. I know that changing your stick tape and your pre-game meal aren’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but this slump is clearly weighing on the guy if he feels the need to try those kinds of things. Here’s hoping the big man can sink one here today.
Connor McDavid has fifteen points in his last 10 games (10G, 5A) and he just seems to get better and better as the season goes on. Say what you will about the Oilers this year, Connor McDavid is always worth the time. I’d watch him any day and always.
Not to be outdone, Leon Draisaitl has quietly (sorry Colorado) put together 12 points (6G, 6A) over his last 10 contests. Draisaitl is another guy that has been
At this point, I’ve powered through 27 cans of beets. For a bet that I thought would only last a couple of weeks, this thing has really taken on a life of its own. I decided to carry the #BeetCast bet over into next year because I’m a gambling man and I can’t imagine that the Oilers will be this bad next season. That said, I didn’t think they would be this bad right now either.
The Oilers have gone four games in a row without allowing a power play goal. Actually, they’ve only allowed a power play goal in two of their last six games. That’s a run of defending that we haven’t seen much of this season. Roster complaints aside, had the penalty kill even been average at home this year (56.8% is historically bad) then we’d probably still be talking about a playoff race. Fortunately, tonight’s game is a road game where the PK has been rock solid all season long (86.6%).
In their last 10 games, the Oilers have struggled mightily, winning only three games and losing seven. On the flip side, the Kings are right in the thick of a Wildcard race and have won six of their last 10 games. Needless to say, they’ll be a tough team to beat.
Since Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went down (January 13th in Vegas) the Oilers have scored only 40 goals with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl being directly responsible for 48% of them (19 total). When Nuge went down, he was leading the team with 16 goals and with the Oilers struggling to produce offence without him it makes little sense to move him now or ever. You need goals to win hockey games and the Oilers have struggled to do that outside of a few players. Keep. The. Skilled. Guys.

LINEUPS

Oilers

Lucic-McDavid-Draisaitl
Cammalleri-Strome-Slepyshev
Puljujarvi-Khaira-Pakarinen
Auvitu-Letestu-Kassian

Nurse-Larsson
Klefbom-Russell
Sekera-Benning

Talbot

At the time of posting, the Oilers haven’t released any line combos so I’ll run with the players that played against Colorado for now. As always, I’ll update the line combos when they come out.

UPDATE Brandon Davidson has been traded to the New York Islanders in exchange for a 3rd round pick in 2019.

Kings

Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown
Pearson-Kempe-Mitchell
Clifford-Thompson-Toffoli
Andreoff-Amadio-Brodzinski

Forbort-Doughty
Phaneuf-Martinez
Muzzin-Folin

Quick

TONIGHT…

Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk

Game Day Prediction: The Oilers put up a better showing than their last LA outing but still fall short with a 3-2 score.

Obvious Game Day Prediction: Connor McDavid continues his climb up the Art Ross race with another two-point effort.

Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Tom Hanks is shown during a break in the second period action, drawing the loudest cheer from the crowd in attendance and Oilers fans watching at home.