First game vs Toronto Jan 20
The Oilers play their first game away from Edmonton in 10 months today when they travel to Toronto to play the Leafs. If there was a time machine available, would I go back and relive the horror of the two games vs Montreal? Absolutely not. Would I try and warn people of the past mistakes, most likely yes. If I had said time machine I would also go ahead in time where the stubbornness of Dave Tippett would hopefully be shaken out of him.
The Oilers (1-3):
RNH - McDavid - Kassian
Kahun - Draisaitl - Yamamoto
Nygard - Turris - Puljujarvi
Archibald - Shore - Chiasson
Nurse - Bear
Russell - Barrie
Koekkoek - Larsson
Koskinen
Skinner
So no change to the forward lines. Bear comes back in and slots next to Nurse. NO FORWARD LINE CHANGES! It seems like Tip loves pain. He said this in his pre-game interview.."We will give it one more shot"
He is also in love with the top powerplay line of McDavid - Draisaitl - Nuge - Barrie & CHAISSON. The same powerplay that went 0-7 last game. The same power play that currently this year is 2-18 all year. Man that is bad.
What's also bad is the Corsi for percentage. Now, I will be the first one to admit, I am not the biggest fan of advanced stats but this one is troubling. Through 4 games the Oilers are last in the WHOLE LEAGUE in Corsi for percentage. Out of the 22 skaters the Oilers have placed on the ice. Just 8 of them are above 50% and none of them are above 58%. Basically this stat means that the other team has controlled the puck WAY more than the Oilers have. Compare that to the division leading leafs and the have 13 players of their 19 that have played games above 50%. 8 of which are above 60%. So let's try and control the puck more.
Let's try and see the good from the past couple games. Bear is coming back and hopefully refreshed. The 3rd line really competed well and I actually liked them.
The Leafs (3-1):
Thornton -Matthews - Marner
Vesey - Tavares - Nylander
Mikheyev - Kerfoot - Hyman
Spezza - Simmonds
Reilly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Dermott - Bogosian
Lehtonen
Anderson
This was the lineup the Leafs rolled out vs the Jets on Wednesday nights 3-1 victory. The Leafs roll out 3 very good lines. Interspersing a couple veterans every now and then. The weakness is the defense for sure. Get at them hard. Especially because they can be slow at times.
3 Oil Drops for Victory:
Have to contain the top 2 lines. Marner, Matthews, Tavares & Nylander have combined for 21 points in 4 games while comparing that to our "big 3" of McDavid, Draisaitl & RNH: they have a combined 13 points. Try and contain those players, because you can't stop them, the Oilers will have a chance.
Shoot, shoot & shoot. Freddy Anderson had a great game vs the Jets. Stopping 27 of 28 shots he faced. However on the year Andersons Numbers aren't too amazing. .881 and a 3.32 GAA through 3 games. Take the game to him and shoot that puck.
Get angry and energized. I was going to talk about the powerplay but that has been beaten to death. This team has no anger, no energy throughout the team. Zack Kassian gets paid $3.5 million to be an energy guy and so far this season has not been that guy. Act like you care that you are getting your faces punched in every night. Act like you care!
An extra one. DO THIS AGAIN CONNOR:
What do you think this team needs to get back to where they need to be?
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