Tonight, we embark on the fourth and final frame of this four round bout between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks. The champions of Alberta are up 2-1 on the series this week and they’ll be looking to win this and ride into the next two games versus Montreal on a high.
On the other hand, with a win, the Canucks could close out the week with a .500 record and that is the kind of positive news the club could use. One would have to think that their goal to end the season is not to be in last place in the North (even though long-term that would probably be best for the club).
Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Canucks tonight,
- #6 Brock Boeser – Has a goal in every game against the Oilers this week. It’d be pretty remarkable if he could get another one tonight.
- #53 Bo Horvat – I’m still a bit shocked by how quiet he’s been this week and I’m picking him to have a good game tonight and be quite noticeable.
- #35 Thatcher Demko – He was fantastic two nights ago and was the major reason why Vancouver won that game. If he’s in between the pipes tonight, he’ll have to have another great game in order for the Canucks to have a chance at the two points.
With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,
- #97 Connor McDavid – He’s on 96pts right now and I have a feeling he’s going to hit 100 tonight at home.
- #29 Leon Draisaitl – If Connor hits 100 this evening there’s a good chance Leon hits 80pts too. He’s sitting on 77 at the moment.
- #22 Tyson Barrie – The defensemen has 45pts to date and surely he’ll be looking to climb the ladder to 50pts before the year is out. I don’t think he’s going to get five points tonight but stranger things have happened.
Oilers & NHL News and Notes
Happy late birthday to Jesse Puljujarvi! A lot of people are flip-flopping on their feelings with regard to our man-child which makes me glad because he never deserved that vitriol. He was once a “quitter” for looking out for no.1 but I’m guessing he’s far from that nowadays and for good reason. Fourteen ginos on the season is pretty good, eh? In a normal year that’d be up near the mid-20s and to top it off, he’s not played that much on Edmonton’s PP but I’m betting that’ll change next season.
Jason Gregor reckons if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wants $6M/yr on his new contract, he might have to go elsewhere because in Gregor’s opinion, RNH doesn’t do enough 5v5 to warrant making that much. The ironic thing is, one of Gregor’s favorite lines is, “Is a point on the powerplay worth less than one at even strength?”… So yeah… I’d be willing to bet Nuge would stay in Edmonton for $6M/yr if he was offered that and Gregor could go back to harping on the length of Jesse Puljujarvi’s hockey stick… (Dropping the Gloves)
Wayne Gretzky is out and won’t be joining ESPN next year but there’s still a chance he’ll join TNT in a Charles Barkley-type role. (The Score)
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