Have to be better vs Montreal Jan 18
Well here we are! The 4th game of the season and the Oilers are 1-2. No need to panic but they just have to be better!
LINES:
RNH - McDavid - Kassian
Kahun - Draisaitl - Yamamoto
Nygard - Turris - Puljujarvi
Archibald - Shore - Chiasson
Nurse - Koekkoek
Russell - Barrie
Lagesson - Larsson
Koskinen
Skinner
So the defense has been all sorts of jumbled up. Lagesson moves in with Larsson. Tippet likes keeping his d-men on the same sides so people yelling about Bouchard going in, who are you replacing? Not Larsson because he is the vertern. Barrie is the PP QB and Koekkoek has been just fine in his role.
Lagesson moves in with Larsson. The 23 year old Swede played in 8 Regular season games last year. No points, was a -4 and played an average of 11:52. He put up 12 points in 14 games in Swedens 2nd highest professional league this year. Hopefully that can translate over to the game tonight. Kris Russell's move into the lineup makes sense tonight, it was only a matter of time before we saw the cowboy in the lineup.
The Opponents:
Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Drouin - Suzuki - Anderson
Toffoli - Kotkaniemi - Armia
Byron - Evans - Lehkonen
Chiarot - Weber
Edmundson - Petry
Kulak - Romanov
Allen
Price
Mostly the same lineup for the Habs except for Jake Allen making his first start as a Canadien. Allen has a 7-6-1 record in 14 appearances vs the Oilers. the 30 year old from New Brunswick has a .910 sv% and a 2.45 GAA against the Oilers.
3 Oil Drops for Victory:
Slow down the top two lines for the Habs. Josh Anderson has been very good with Nick Suzuki and Jonathon Drouin. The line has 7 points combined and is tough to handle down below.
Play defense. The first 3 games have not been pretty for the Oil back end. A dismal -19 combined and 12 goals against to only 9 for. Clean up in your own end and the Oilers will be fine.
Mikko has to be better. Through 3 games this season Mikko Koskinen has a .892 sv% and a 4.04 GAA. OOF. I know its only 3 games but that is not good.
What is your prediction for tonight? Who scores the first one for the Oilers?
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