As both teams are coming off of victories last night, the winner of this evening’s Edmonton Oilers/Winnipeg Jets match will tie the Toronto Maple Leafs for first in the North Division standings.
Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Jets tonight,
- #81 Kyle Connor – Four goals in his last two games. His line (with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nik Ehlers) is white hot right now. Connor seems to have this inane ability to disappear on the ice and then reappear when there’s a loose puck around the goalmouth where he politely tucks home pucks on a regular basis.
- #27 Nik Ehlers – Has eight points in his last five games. If you didn’t catch his GWG last night in OT vs. the Habs, he absolutely froze Carey Price on a 2v1 and lasered it right past him. He’s got an incredible release on his shot and the dmen on the Oilers who will be charged with defending him tonight will have their work cut out for them.
- #44 Josh Morrissey – For a defense-first two-way defender, Morrissey has 19 shots in his last five games as well as five points. Nine blocks as well. He’s like Kris Russell when he played in Medicine Hat before Ken Hitchcock got his meat hooks into him. Wait. No. That’s dumb. Anyway, he’s not looked good lately and will have his work cut out for him. If I had to guess I’d say that he’s going to draw Leon’s line and Neil Pionk will get McDavid’s.
For Winnipeg to have success, Connor Hellebuyck needs to be on his game and the Jets big six can’t pick tonight as the night they pull out their Houdini act. Ehlers and Connor, they’re on fire right now and this will be Edmonton’s first look at Pierre-Luc Dubois. That said, in six career games against the Oilers, Dubois only has 3 assists.
*EDIT* I’m an idiot (no surprise)… Laurent Brossoit will be in net for the Jets tonight… So, it’d be a good night for him to have a career evening.
I think cutting down on the unforced errors will help too… I mean unless they want to see Connor and Leon increase their stranglehold on the league scoring chart.
Their defense will need to pull up their socks and come to the rink ready to punish. In my opinion, it’s not necessarily a special group of blueliners Winnipeg has. They’re getting things done by committee right now (and good on them for that) but they’ve got one top-pairing d-man surrounded by maybe a no.4 and a whole bunch of bottom-pairing skaters.
With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,
- #22 Tyson Barrie – This guy is on an absolute tear. He’s the LEAGUE LEADER in scoring for defensemen! FFS! If you want this guy traded by the trade deadline, you need to give your head a shake. The Oilers have had some good offensive d-men come through their ranks over the years, but I can’t remember the last time they had one like this. If the rumors of him signing in the 3yr/$5.5M range are true, do. it. up!
- #19 Mikko Koskinen – I really loved his game against the Canucks. He was as solid as he’s been in some time and for once, he gave the Oilers a real shot without having to worry about their goalie. Edmonton didn’t win that game, but that’s not on Mikko. Quite the opposite in fact, he’s the reason they were in it as long as they were.
- #44 Zack Kassian – He’s back! What a deft little backhander he put past Markstrom last night. The Oilers will need him as Winnipeg’s third line is one of the best, if not THE best, in the entire NHL.
Three Keys to Success For the Oilers
- Get the Lead, Keep the Lead
The Oilers are the best team in the National Hockey League when leading after the first period. So, they have a bit of a super power in their back pockets at the moment as every other team in the North know this. Undoubtedly, every time Edmonton scores the opening goal in the first frame the other team silently screams “F**********************************************CK!” while trying to put on a brave face.
- Keep the Scoring to a Dull Roar
Winnipeg and Edmonton have played each other four times this season so far. They’ve split the series (2-2) but when the Jets have won, they’ve popped six past the Edmonton goalie. When Edmonton has won, both games were 4-3 and the first victory by that margin had to be one in the very dying seconds of the game. Remember that?
- Let’s Get Physical
The Jets are a a scary bunch and they insulate their skilled scorers (Ehlers, Connor) with a number of huge hard-working physically imposing forwards. So on most nights they can simply push around the other team with impunity. Now, a few of their losses have come against teams who’ve decided they weren’t having it on that night and grinded out a win. Skill alone hasn’t beat this team more than once (Montreal beat Winnipeg 7-1 earlier this month) and therefore it’s going to take a real gutsy blue collar effort to beat this team.
With Zack Kassian back in the fold as well as Josh Archibald, they’ll be joined by a very good group of forechecking forwards and their ability to pressure and disrupt Winnipeg’s flow will be of the utmost importance to tonight’s campaign.
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