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 tonight’s matchup!
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Random Pontifications
- So… The Oilers are still entertaining the idea of playing McDavid in the Heritage Classic… This club never ceases to amaze me with regards to how it consistently shoots itself in the foot instead of doing the right thing.
- Edmonton is 1-8-0 in their last nine visits to Minny but the Wild have been leaking goals like crazy for about a week now. Meaning, on one hand it’s a great opportunity for the Oilers to light somebody up and get this train back on track but on the other hand Minnesota could snap their own skid because the Oil love to help other teams out in their time of need.
- Bill Guerin’s club should be without their no.1 dman, Jared Spurgeon, one of their better goal-scoring wingers in Matt Boldy, as well as another veteran dman in Alex Goligoski. You’d think with that in mind that the Oilers would be in a pretty good spot going into this game but they’d best not sleep on Zuccarello (1g 6a this year), Eriksson-Ek (7pts this season so far), or whoever’s in net be that Filip Gustavsson or Marc-Andre Fleury. Edmonton’s been getting goalied a lot this year, so why would that stop now?
- This club MUST find that mindset that had them beating everybody left and right from last season’s trade deadline to the end of the regular season. They need it, the fans need it, and FFS, I need it!
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Three Players to Watch for the (team)
- #97 Kirill Kaprizov (2g 4a 6pts) – Six points on the campaign so far to lead his team in scoring and with 9pts in his six career games vs Edmonton, besides being Minnesota’s best player, he’s probably a pretty good bet to get his name on the scoresheet.
- #23 Marco Rossi (1g 0a 1pt) – The once highly touted prospect has gone through the ringer to get to the NHL but now he’s here to stay as he centers the Wild’s third line with Marcus Foligno and Freddy Gaudreau. He’s a high IQ playmaking center who’ll eat up the Oilers if given the time and space.
- #7 Brock Faber (1g 1a 2pts) – This young defenseman is a smooth skating two-way blueliner who’ll block shots and put up points. He seems to have outstanding edges from what I’ve gleaned and is not an easy player to get around because of that. Lots of heart and grit in this guy to boot plus he’s eating some major TOI right now with Spurgeon out of the lineup.
Three Players to Watch for the Oilers
- #91 Evander Kane (0g-1a-1pt) – It’s time to shit or get off the pot for Evander or else it could be the beginning of the end for him in Edmonton. The worst thing would be for him to go down the same road Milan Lucic did.
- #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2g-4a-6pt) – What better time for Nuge to assert himself just a little bit more. Not easy with Foegele and Janmark (what?!) as his wingers, but what are you going to do when the coach refuses to throw Holloway up into the top-6?
- #36 Jack Campbell (1-2-0, 3.65GAA, .902%) – Sweet Jesus, this is just the game Edmonton needs their goalie to steal one for them and Campbell could use the pick-me-up too IF he’s starting which I think he is just from going off of how Woodcroft has been rotating him and Skinner.
The Next Twelve Games (#2-#13)
- 10/14 vs. Canucks – I think the Oilers will take 2/2 vs. Vancouver to start the year. (W)
- (4-3 LOSS)
- 10/17 @. Predators – The Pred don’t scare me. Their roster is in shambles. Poor Jusse Saros and Roman Josi. (W)
- (6-1 WIN)
- 10/19 @ Flyers – Their forward group looks entertaining but they’ve got nobody on defense. (W)
- (4-1 LOSS)
- 10/21 vs. Winnipeg – The Jets are always a tough out. I like their chances. (L)
- (3-2 OTL)
- 10/24 @ Wild – Minny isn’t as good as they used to be but still very solid. (W)
- 10/26 vs. Rangers – I like NY’s defense and goaltending here. (L)
- 10/29 vs.Flames – Calgary is going to surprise a few this year. (L)
- 11/2 vs. Stars – This will be a very tight game. (W)
- 11/4 vs. Predators – Leon will continue to light the Preds up. (W)
- 11/6 @ Canucks – I’ll take Edmonton for a third time here, Alex. (W)
- 11/9 @ Sharks – I don’t even recognize half the names on SJ’s roster… (W)
- 11/11 @ Kraken – I like Seattle’s roster. Well-rounded. (L)
(predictions made 10/11/2023)
