Hey y’all! Welcome back for another season of Edmonton Oilers hockey! I’m BLH and I’ll be giving you the skinny on today’s game!
If you’re new here and are wondering what 3P2W means, well, it stands for Three Players to Watch and seeing I’m as lazy as I am, I figured we’d shorten it to 3P2W.
So with that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about what’s been going on lately in the Oilogospehere and then get into the player’s I’ve put under the spotlight for today’s matchup!
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Random Pontifications
- In NJ’s last five games, it appears that they’re playing five dmen, Siegenthaler, Hughes, Nemec, Marino, and Bahl, for the most part. Bahl averaging the last amount of TOI at 17.39 whilst everybody else on that list are getting over 20 minutes.
- I feel like the Oilers could really take advantage of a very young defense who might be playing over their heads.
- On top of that, the Devils goalies are Jekyll and Hyde. Akira Schmid is 1-2-0 with a 3.39 GAA and a .878 SV% and Vitek Vanecek is 1-0-1 with a GAA of 1.89 and a sparkling .920 SV%. You have to think Vanecek gets the call tonight but Daily Faceoff is saying Schmid is likely to get the nod.
- The Islanders game… I think everybody knows that the special teams let them down. The first and third periods belonged to Edmonton but they just can’t stop themselves from getting goalie’d.
- If Pickard gets lit up tonight, I’m hoping they give Ollie Rodrigue a call-up. He deserves it.
- I’m guessing Edmonton will make a deal after the Xmas freeze but I guess it’ll all depend on where they think the season is going for them.
- I mean, if there’s even the slightest bit of doubt about the post-season, they should start sending contracts away and the earliest convenience too. That way they could get some of their younger players up for a showcase and in the event that they find themselves back in a playoff position, they’ve got some ammo for the deadline.
- Players I’m thinking about are Philip Broberg, Rafa Lavoie, and I’d even like to see what Xavier Bourgault could do as I don’t think he could do worse that what Connor Brown is doing. Tyler Tullio might bring some energy and I truly believe Phil Kemp deserves a cup of coffee. He might surprise a lot of you with his old school game.
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Three Players to Watch for the Bad Guys
- #73 Tyler Toffoli (13g 10a 23pts) – No special stats to speak of for Toffoli. I just feel like he’s the kind of player that could score a back-breaking goal in a tight game against Edmonton.
- #63 Jesper Bratt (13g 24a 37pts) – Beat on the Bratt is what I say. Lest the Oilers want more goals filling their net, they’ll find a way to stifle this sneaky sniper.
- #86 Jack Hughes (14g 24a 38pts) – He’s on fire right now. Four goals and an assist in his last five. Seven goals and five assists in his last ten. Edmonton has to keep the puck away from this guy or else…
Three Players to Watch for the Good Guys
- #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (7g 22a 29pts) – Nuge is still one of the team’s better producing players over this bumpy stretch. That said, a career SH% of 6.8 against NJ doesn’t really instill a lot of confidence in him to add to his totals. On a more positive note, he’s tallied 14pts in 17 games when facing the Devils. So there’s that to consider.
- #29 Leon Draisaitl (13g 21a 24pts) – Leon scored last game and I think he’s going to start to heat up here. Am I wrong in thinking that? Over the course of his career December has been his worst month by far. Conversely, January has been one of his best.
- #30 Calvin Pickard (1-2-0, 2.99 GAA, 0.901 SV%) – The Devils are a high-octane go-for-broke offensive team. Pickard is really going to need to be on his game tonight. However, they are 2-2-1 in their last five with the Oilers being one of the teams that beat them in that span. They’re also averaging 3+ goals against in that timeframe. So if Pickard can hold the Devils to under three goals, the Oilers should be able to take this one.
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