The Edmonton Oilers look to bounce back after a 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames and return to the win column tonight in southern Alberta. Two losses on the trot and only .500 in their last ten games, have Dave Tippett’s men losing their lead in the standings as the clubs below them, like the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens, gather steam. A second consecutive loss to Sutter’s crew will have Edmonton only three points ahead of their rivals with the impending schedule looking its busiest and most difficult…
An important thread re: Ethan Bear.
Criticizing a player’s on-ice performance is fair game. (Although in Bear’s case he’s a second-year NHLer who sustained a concussion earlier this season.)
Having that criticism turn into racist language is never, ever acceptable. Period. https://t.co/WcZQXjC4AE
— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) March 16, 2021
Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Flames tonight,
- #13 Johnny Gaudreau – Was nothing more than a ghost Monday night. I expect him to be much more involved in this game. Only three points in his last five.
- #29 Dillon Dube – Dube has managed to find a way to score against Edmonton a lot since breaking into the NHL full time I feel. He’s got five points in his last five games
- #55 Noah Hanifin – I think I read that he has three goals this season and two of them are against the Oilers. Not that that means anything, but even if we throw that weird stat out, he gets an awful lot of clear shots at the net from the blueline when Calgary faces Edmonton.
For Calgary to have success I think what they did earlier this week was as close to a perfect game against these Oilers. Soft dump-ins, hard forechecks, shot volume high… It all worked so well. My feeling is that they’ll want to get Tkachuk, Gaudreau, and Monahan going should they have noted that they nearly coughed up the lead in the game for a second time in the dying seconds. They capitalized on a lot of defensive brainfarts from Edmonton and I’m not certain the Oilers will allow that to happen again, so getting their top offensive stars on the board should be very important.
Since they’re getting all the time in the world to take shots from the point, I don’t imagine utilizing that game plan in conjunction with their forwards going to the net for a tip or a screen will hurt them. Deflections have not treated Mike Smith well in his time with the Oilers.
With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,
- #97 Connor McDavid – He was a man on a mission Monday evening as he tried his damnedest to get the Oilers a goal to tie it up late. Also, he destroyed Milan Lucic in the corner in that game. It’s weird, he’s playing much more physically these last two weeks. Not sure I want my franchise player summoning his inner Messier. You’d hate to see him catch a guy in the cranium accidentally. I think the recipe for retribution for stars in this league includes slew foots and pitchforks to the gonads. That $5000 fine is much easier to digest.
- #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Geez. This guy is really fighting it right now. He was puck watching on two goals against last game in Calgary and I heard he got cussed out by Mike Smith for screening him on one. Nuge probably should been cussed out for not taking the open man (Dube?) off of Smith’s gaff too though. He needs to have himself a really good game here or I’m not sure what the Oilers are going to do with him. He’s certainly not a $6M player at this point and if this season is the beginning of a downward trend for him, he won’t be worth that in the future either…
- #74 Ethan Bear – Boy oh boy… Another player who is having himself a hellish season. The fancies LOVED Bearsy but the eye test told us a very different story. That pinch when it was 3-3 was horrid… If Tyson Barrie wasn’t out of the game already at that point, I could’ve seen Coach Tippett sitting the sophomore for a shift or more. I’ve not minded his recent play to be honest, but when he’s made a mistake, it’s been really bad and cost the Oilers a goal. He’ll have his work cut out for him tonight if Barrie can’t go as I believe he’ll be paired up with Darnell Nurse on the top pair.
Three Keys to Success For the Oilers
- Play with a calm urgency
Heavy hockey is back! As soon as Darryl Sutter agreed to come back to coach the Flames, he brought with him a recipe for success and so far it’s been fruitful. That said, I feel like the Oilers were a bit overwhelmed by it early on before adapting to it as the game wore on.
However, the Oilers are much more skilled and a way faster team. They’ll need to use this to their advantage but not get caught up in the hoopla of any given moment should the shenanigans creep into the game. Basically, don’t panic but play like it’s the last minute of the game and you’re down a goal… Urgent.
- Adapt
Edmonton knows Calgary’s plan now and it’ll be incumbent on Dave Tippett to learn from past transgressions and adapt. We’ve seen in the past with the Chicago play-in series and the three games against Toronto that the Oilers coaching staff has been a tad stubborn when it comes to this.
- Odd Man Rushes: Shoot More!
How many 2v1s have we seen wasted this week because one of the Oilers was gun shy? Sutter’s Flames aren’t going to allow you too many of those golden opportunities and if Edmonton gets one or two, they must register a shot on net at least.
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