It’s not very often that we get to watch the Edmonton Oilers play in the early slot on Saturday night, but that’s what we’ve got on deck tonight as the boys are visiting the United Center to take on the Chicago Blackhawks.
Since the Califonia hiccup against the Kings and Ducks a couple of weeks ago, the Oilers had gotten back into the rhythm of standing on business and looking like an absolute wagon. They were dominant. Until Thursday’s debacle in Pittsburgh, not only had our boys been winning their games, but they were finding different ways to get the job done regardless of the opponent. We’ve seen tight matchups and dominant performances, but the most important thing was that the Oilers were winning.
Seeing how well they played made that loss to the Penguins all the more painful. To see Edmonton so thoroughly unprepared to play at the start of that game and allowing themselves to fall behind by three goals was unacceptable. I wish I knew what the group’s mentality was like in the hours leading up to the game because they looked like they thought it would be easy. It was almost like the boys had been reading too much into their winning streak over the Pens and assumed it would happen again.
Heading into Chicago, it’s tough to say what kind of opponent the Blackhawks will be since they’ve been incredibly inconsistent all season and will be playing the second half of a back-to-back set. The Blackhawks lost 5-3 in Detroit last night after a hard-fought battle with the Red Wings and likely got back into Chicago quite late. That’s an opportunity the Oilers need to take advantage of by pushing the pace of play early and forcing their will on the game. They’re the better team here and need to act like it.
There are times when the skill in Chicago’s lineup shines and lock in wins over some pretty tough opponents. There are plenty of other times when they look like the team that’s currently dead last in the league standings. So, what are we going to get for the rematch? When the Oilers and Blackhawks last met in October, Chicago took advantage of a sloppy Edmonton team that was as likely to make a mistake as they were to generate offence. It was a mess.
Looking back, that game reminds me a lot of what happened against the Penguins two days ago. As a result, the Blackhawks ran away with a 5-2 win and left every Oilers fan watching the game feeling incredibly frustrated and annoyed. That can’t happen again in the rematch. If the Oilers play how we know they can, this should be a win for the visitors. But if the Oilers decide to look ahead of this game in the spirit of it being an easy win, then we could easily wrap up the night with another frustrating result.
Let’s see what the numbers say…
THE NUMBERS
OILERS | BLACKHAWKS | |
RECORD | 25-13-3 | 14-26-2 |
WIN/LOSS STREAK | L1 | L1 |
LAST 10 GAMES | 7-2-1 | 3-7-0 |
GOALS FOR | 135 | 108 |
GOALS AGAINST | 114 | 143 |
POWER PLAY% | 24.0 | 23.1 |
PENALTY KILL% | 76.6 | 83.6 |
AVG. SHOTS/FOR | 32.2 | 25.2 |
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST | 26.2 | 30.3 |
TEAM SAVE% | .911 | .900 |
CORSI FOR% | 53.94 | 45.04 |
PDO | 0.992 | 0.982 |
TEAM SHOOTING% | 8.16 | 8.25 |
EXPECTED GOALS FOR% | 54.37 | 44.98 |
Numbers courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (Sv%, CF%, PDO, Shooting%, xGF% all at 5×5)
- Saturday’s meeting is the second of three this season between the Oilers and Blackhawks, with the final contest on February 5th in Chicago. The Blackhawks are 9-4-2 in their last 15 home games against the Oilers, but our boys have won six of their last seven games against Chicago and have won their last three trips to the United Center.
- Corey Perry leads all active Oilers in career games (53) played against the Blackhawks and is tied with Leon Draisaitl in career points (37) versus Chicago.
- The Oilers’ all-time record against the Blackhawks is 66-68-12-5 in 151 games played. Those numbers are irrelevant to tonight’s game, but I thought it was interesting to share anyway.
LINE COMBINATIONS
Oilers
Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Brown
Podkolzin – Draisaitl– Arvidsson
J. Skinner – Henrique – Hyman
Kapanen – Janmark – Perry
Podkolzin – Draisaitl– Arvidsson
J. Skinner – Henrique – Hyman
Kapanen – Janmark – Perry
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson
Skinner
With Connor McDavid being in Erie for his jersey retirement last night, we didn’t get an accurate look at practice about any potential lineup changes we might see Saturday against Chicago. According to Mark Spector, Jeff Skinner could be a healthy scratch again, but we’ll have to wait and see if that happens. Will Zach Hyman stay on the third line or get bumped back up to Connor McDavid’s wing? Will Leon Draisaitl’s second line stay the same, or will Kris Knoblauch reunite the Dynamic Duo for more than a few shifts? I don’t know the answers to those questions yet, so I’ll be sure to jump back in update the combos as news becomes available.
Blackhawks
Bertuzzi – Bedard – Mikheyev
Hall – Dickinson – Foligno
Dach – Nazar – Teravainen
Maroon – Kurashev – Donato
Hall – Dickinson – Foligno
Dach – Nazar – Teravainen
Maroon – Kurashev – Donato
Kaiser – Jones
Vlasic – Crevier
Allan – Brodie
Vlasic – Crevier
Allan – Brodie
Soderblom
Connor Bedard notched an assist on Friday against Detroit, extending his point streak to a career-long nine games (4G, 8A). That streak is the longest active point streak in the NHL. In doing so, he became the third teenager in franchise history with a nine-game point streak, following Jonathan Toews (10 GP) and Eddie Olczyk (9 GP)
TONIGHT…
Game Day Prediction: The Oilers get back in the win column with a masterful 7-2 win.
Obvious Game Day Prediction: Leon Draisaitl scores again because no one can stop him, and the Blackhawks won’t be able to do so either.
Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Mattias Janmark hasn’t scored since November 3rd against the Flames, but he snaps the drought against the Blackhawks. Goal number two is on its way for Mattias.
