After coughing up a two-goal lead late in Saturday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Edmonton Oilers are back at it tonight will be looking for revenge and a way to close the gap on the North Division-leading team in blue and white.
I wrote about some of the latest Oilers rumors and hearsay that’s been passed along to me recently in this post. There you’ll find things like,
- Which player GMs are asking about.
- Someone the Oilers just missed out on in a trade.
- Who the Oilers have been shopping.
- Who they’re targeting.
- Which teams they’ve been talking to the most lately.
Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Leafs tonight,
- #91 John Tavares – Took a massive hit from Zack Kassian late in the last game. Tavares has been a beast against Edmonton in every game but the first meeting between the two clubs.
- #3 Justin Holl – He’s part of a new breed of defender emerging. There seems to be more tall, gangly, well-skating, shutdown d-men developing. He’s done a fantastic job of taking Edmonton’s stars out of the equation this season. We’ll see if he can continue that this evening.
- #88 William Nylander – I think he’s the most underrated superstar in the NHL. Sure, he’s not Ron Francis, but man can this boy skill. He’s really had some key goals against Edmonton this year and I don’t think he’s about to stop.
For Toronto to have a better chance at success versus the Oilers they could do two things,
- Get Edmonton moving in their own zone.
- Meaning don’t allow the Oilers to get set and in a position to box out you out. Coach Tippett’s boys can get wirey at times and it causes them to start puck watching which ultimately leaves a forward open an in a scoring position.
- Get point shots and Muck it up in front of Edmonton’s net.
- Deflections and redirections are Mike Smith’s and Mikko Koskinen’s kryptonite. Also, the Oilers only really have Adam Larsson and Darnell Nurse to clear the crease. So the Leafs could take advantage of that.
With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,
- #91 Gaetan Haas – I really dig this guy, but I do wonder if he’d be more effective on the wing. He simply doesn’t have the faceoff skills to be a good center in the NHL and last game he lost some really key draws on the PK that resulted in some panicky moments for Edmonton… The Oilers need a little bit more from Haas and I happen to think there’s more there to give from him.
- #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – This season has been up and down for Nuge which is a tad uncharacteristic. He’s usually a lot more consistent but it sounds like he’ll be back up with McDavid in this game and, in my opinion, that’s where he should be. RNH is a much better winger than he is a center and that’s because his work along the boards and in the corners is exactly what elite pivots like McDavid and Draisaitl need.
- #74 Ethan Bear – Another lackluster game over the weekend… Evan Bouchard is ready to go, I’m just saying. The three games prior to the break in Montreal, Bear was really good, so don’t ask me what happened in Toronto. He looked back to his out-of-form self and the Oilers cannot have that going into the final leg of this season. They need more consistency.
Three Keys to Success For the Oilers
- Faceoffs, Win a Few.
Outside of Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton’s centers need to step up on the draw. If Ken Holland can’t procure a center or two who are elite at winning faceoffs, it might be their downfall, ultimately. You can’t win without good draw takers and with the talent level of the Maple Leafs being somewhat similar to what the Oilers will be facing in the post-season, they’d best improve their FO% or find some players who already have good percentages on the dot.
- More Shots From the Home Plate
I would like to see Edmonton’s forwards be completely selfish tonight. Once they’re in Toronto’s end, let’s get some shots right away. Really pepper the Maple Leafs goalie and keep the shots lower than waist height if possible to try and create more rebounds and out of the glove or gut. Last time out, they really got out shot and out-chanced pretty badly by the Leafs and if they want to beat Toronto outright, it starts with shots.
- Keep Up the Physicality
Zack Kassian’s hit on John Tavares was GOLD and Josh Archibald has nine of his own last time out. Jesse Puljujarvi is a wrecking ball in his own right but obviously he’s out to dislodge pucks whereas the other two are looking to dislodge brain stems. That said, Edmonton could target their hits a bit better and to be honest, isn’t it about time some other team’s stars started to feel the noise?
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