The Edmonton Oilers, who’ve won eight of their last ten games, will look to sweep the Calgary Flames tonight in their 20th game of the season and close the gap on the Toronto Maple Leafs even more.
Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Flames tonight,
- #25 Jacob Markstrom: Let’s try this one more time, shall we? I had no idea Rittich woudl be in net yesterday… That said, will Markstrom’s return to the net spark some life into Calgary’s rotting corpse? For their sakes, he’d better.
- #28 Elias Lindholm: One of the quietest snipers in the league and he had a few chances last time out.
- #93 Sam Bennett: Quite the game for Bennett last night, eh? Played just over six-and-a-half minutes and none of them in the third period yet finished the evening with the team lead in shots on net… I really like him and I hope the Flames move on from him ASAP instead of playing these mind games with him. He deserves better.
For Calgary to have success they’d best get their heads screwed on straight and start doing what’s made them successful in the past. They’ve gotten away from that intimidating game, haven’t they? Matthew Tkachuk is hardly noticeable, Milan Lucic isn’t doing anything worth talking about, Mark Giordano, at this point, is just showing up and collecting a paycheck, and the coach is sitting probably their most assertive player for who knows what reason.
The Flame are a team in turmoil and I wonder if they’ll even pull out of this tailspin…
With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,
- #22 Tyson Barrie – After a slow start to the year, Barrie has 13 points in his last 11 games and has formed an excellent partnership with Darnell Nurse recently. We’ll forget about getting his ankles broken by Johnny Hockey before the Flames scored last night since the play he made to get Jesse Puljujarvi the puck on the Finn’s goal was so sweet.
- #19 Mikko Koskinen – All that the Oilers need is for Koskinen to come in an be solid. The team is playing with extreme confidence but that could all change with a poor performance in net.
- #18 James Neal – Replaced Kyle Turris last night and as infinitely better. His ability to use his size and strength really gave the Flames defenders fits and he really meshed well with Gaetan Haas and Alex Chiasson too.
Keys to Success For the Oilers
Are we all not waiting for McDavid and Draisaitl to go supernova here? After being treated to some ridiculous performances earlier in the year, they’ve been pretty quiet in this last week or so.
I’m curious how the temperature of the team will be with Mikko in between the pipes. The last time he was in net vs. Calgary, he let in a goal on the Flames first shot. I think he’ll have something to prove and one of the things on his plate will be improving his stats for the rest of the year. Teams have been targeting his glove-hand from what I’ve noticed, so that’ll be something to pay attention to.
I’d love to see a high-scoring affair, but I wouldn’t be displeased if Edmonton trapped the Flames out of another two points, to be honest. I’ve always said that until this team can learn to play a defensive game first, they’ll have a tough time becoming an NHL powerhouse. If they can do it again tonight, that will bode well for the future success of the team.
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