After two long weeks of waiting, the Edmonton Oilers are finally back in action against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center for a little matinee hockey.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’ve missed watching the Oilers do their thing. Now that our boys are Stanley Cup contenders, even going a few days without cheering them on feels like an eternity. As much as the 4 Nations Face-Off was more exciting than I ever expected — Connor McDavid’s OT winner against Team USA is something I’ll remember forever — watching those games wasn’t quite the same as seeing our favourite club chase their first division win since 1987. It was nice to cheer on Canada’s win with the rest of the country, but I was also ready to get back to the regularly scheduled programming.
What I don’t know is what this morning’s game will look like. Seeing as most of these guys spent the last two weeks on a beach somewhere, I think it’s fair to wonder how rusty everyone will be. I know what I’d be doing with a green light for two weeks, and I’m broke as hell compared to an NHL player, so I think it’s fair to assume that some less-than-stellar life choices were made during the break. How will that affect what happens on the ice? Are we going to get some pre-season-like sloppiness? I guess we’ll find out.
But if we assume that the Oilers had a couple of hard days of practice and that everyone in blue and orange is ready to go, I don’t see any reason why Edmonton shouldn’t handle the Flyers. On paper, this shouldn’t even be a contest. Philly went into the 4 Nations break in last place in the Metropolitan Division while sporting a 3-6-1 record over their last 10 games, and those numbers tell me this is a squad the Oilers should handle more often than not. Even with the rust of a well-earned vacation, the Oilers need to tuck these points in the bank.
With only 27 games left on the schedule, we don’t have time to waste opportunities against bottom-feeder teams, and I’m hopeful that’s the mindset in the dressing room as well. If the Oilers aim to wrap up the year with home-ice advantage, these games and points can’t be wasted. Of course, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in the NHL, meaning the Oilers still need to come up with their best if they want to win, but I’m ultimately hopeful that they plan to play with some urgency and lock in the result we need.
We can go into everything the Oilers need to do to win this game, but the most significant item to cross off the to-do list is getting a quick start and getting their legs moving. The faster Edmonton can get up and running, the better opportunity they’ll have to close out the season series with a sweep. The Oilers beat the Flyers 4-3 in overtime back on October 15th to pick up their first win of the season, and now they’re tasked with repeating the result to take another small step toward winning the Pacific Division. Doable? I certainly think so.
Let’s see what the numbers say…

THE NUMBERS

OILERS
FLYERS
RECORD
34-17-4
24-26-7
WIN/LOSS STREAK
L1
W1
LAST 10 GAMES
5-4-1
3-6-1
GOALS FOR
182
162
GOALS AGAINST
152
192
POWER PLAY%
25.0
15.8
PENALTY KILL%
75.6
78.5
AVG. SHOTS/FOR
32.6
26.9
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST
26.7
27.0
TEAM SAVE%
.911
.892
CORSI FOR%
54.16
47.92
PDO
0.993
0.978
TEAM SHOOTING%
8.26
8.63
EXPECTED GOALS FOR%
55.18
52.14
Numbers courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (Sv%, CF%, PDO, Shooting%, xGF% all at 5×5)
  • The Oilers have earned at least a point in five of their last six games against the Flyers, posting a record of 4-1-1 in that span. This morning’s meeting marks the second and final meeting of the season against Philadelphia.
  • After many years in the Eastern Conference, Jeff Skinner leads all active Oilers in career games (53) and career points (38) against Philadelphia.
  • Leon Drasaitl went into the break riding a six-game point streak where he posts five goals and four assists. Draisaitl is also sporting a three-game multi-point streak and a three-game goal streak. Needless to say, it would be wonderful if our German hero and future Hart Trophy winner can pick up where he left off.
  • Connor McDavid has recorded at least a point in 11 straight games versus Philadelphia (9G, 18A), which includes eight multi-point games. McDavid’s career average of 2.06 points per-game against the Flyers is his highest point-per-game rate against any opponent.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Oilers

Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Savoie
Skinner – Henrique – Brown
Arvidsson – Janmark – Perry
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Klingberg
Kulak – Emberson
Skinner
Outside of Connor McDavid, Viktor Arvidsson, and Mattias Ekholm, who played games over the past two weeks, I’ll be looking for everyone else in the lineup to get themselves engaged as quickly as possible. Those boys should be chomping at the bit to get going, don’t you think? I don’t care whether their first shift features a hit, a scoring chance, or a cycle down low, but we need everyone doing everything they can to get engaged and push the pace. If the Oilers want this one like I know the fanbase wants this one, then there’s no reason we shouldn’t be celebrating win #35. Am I right? I think I am.

Flyers

Foerster – Laughton – Brink
Kuzmenko – Cates – Konecny
Abols – Couturier – Michkov
Deslauriers – Gaucher – Hathaway
York – Sanheim
Seeler – Drysdale
Andrae – Johnson
Ersson
I know I said in the opening above that the Flyers are no free square on the Bingo board, but I also can’t help but wonder who most of these players even are. I know that sounds like I’m being a jerk on purpose — I’m not — but I also don’t see how this Philly lineup should be able to hang with the Oilers. Again, I know there are no easy outs in the NHL, but I also don’t think it’s unfair to suggest we’ll all be justifiably bummed out if this morning’s game ends up as a loss.

TONIGHT…

GDB Connor McDavid Edmonton Oilers Rocky Stairs
GDB Connor McDavid Edmonton Oilers Rocky Stairs – Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk from Handmade by Tom
Game Day Prediction: Oilers get back in the win column with a decisive 5-1 win over the Flyers.
Obvious Game Day Prediction: Leon Draisaitl hasn’t scored a goal in weeks, and he’s got the itch to get back on track. The result will be a two-goal performance for the future Rocket Richard and Hart Trophy winner.
Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Matthew Savoie will play in his first game as an Oiler and picks up his first NHL goal in the second period after Draisaitl finds him with a perfect backdoor pass.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365