The Oilers were rolling on Tuesday in Nashville and look to keep things going as they head into Philadelphia tonight to face the Flyers. A win tonight puts the Oilers back to .500 on the season with a 2-2 record. As big of a sigh of relief for Oilers fans after their first win earlier this week, the boys have to keep it going and start putting some points in the bank. Points count just as much now as they do in March and April, so putting the tough start behind them and beginning to build is important.
The Flyers are also coming off a win. On Tuesday night, they shut out the Vancouver Canucks 2-0. Sean Couturier scored his first goal in almost two years after missing almost two seasons’ worth of hockey due to a couple of back surgeries. The goal was a beautifully executed penalty shot where he turned backwards in vintage Martin St. Louis fashion before turning and wiring it home. Carter Hart got his first shutout of the season. The Sherwood Park native is now boasting a 0.922 sv% through three games. He’s looking like the highly touted prospect from his draft years, which is a great sight to see (though hopefully that doesn’t hold up against the Oilers tonight).
Oilers Line up
The Oilers are going with basically the same lineup as Tuesday against the Preds. The Foegele-RNH-Hyman line has earned another game together as a second line with their incredible 5-on-5 play last game. This means Draisaitl-McDavid get to stay together as well, which always seems deadly for the opposition to try and defend. The only change comes on the back end with Desharnais coming in for Broberg, which is disappointing because it seemed like Tuesday against Nashville may have been Broberg’s best game of his career. The move may be to get Desharnais into a game after sitting for games 2 and 3, but I would’ve preferred to have Broberg stay in the lineup and see if he could build on his performance.
Forwards
Kane-McDavid-Draisaitl –> (32.00 CF%, 1-0 GF/GA at ES)
Foegele-RNH-Hyman –> (58.82 CF%, 2-0 GF/GA at ES)
Holloway-McLeod-Brown –> (50.00 CF%, 0-0 GF/GA at ES)
Erne-Janmark-Ryan –> (33.33 CF%, 0-0 GF/GA at ES)
The specific relevant content for this request, if necessary, delimited with characters: These numbers are from a very small sample size (around 10 min each), but we’ll keep them updated as the season goes in game previews to help get a glimpse of how lines seem to be working. The McDavid line got heavily outshot in their first game together but won the goals battle. Kane seems to be an anchor on that line, slowing things down. Maybe Holloway could get a look up there?
The second line is money, if they can keep that going for a while maybe the coach has found something there.
The third line sawed off scoring chances in a game that was lopsided the wrong way in terms of shots on goal, no ES goals but the line looks good.
The fourth line has been giving up a lot of shots and losing the possession battle, they look slow, maybe a speedy 4th line acquisition is in order for the Oilers.
Defence
Ekholm-Bouchard –> (58.54 CF%, 1-1 GF/GA at ES)
Nurse-Ceci –> (59.49 CF%, 1-1 GF/GA at ES)
Kulak-Desharnais –> (100 CF%, 0-0 GF/GA at ES)
The Ekholm-Bouchard pair is looking good together, Ekholm looked better in his 2nd game arrows up for this duo.
Nurse and Ceci are doing well in the possession battle, as well as in goal differential. The pair plays solid minutes together, as long as they avoid making 1 or 2 big mistakes in a game. They need to iron that out because those big mistakes cost games. Other than that, they have played well together so far.
Kulak-Desharnais have only played 19 seconds together so far this season in the first game against the Canucks, not much to read into here. Look for Desharnais to use his big frame to slow down the opposition tonight.
Goalie
Jack Campbell –> (0.917 sv%, 3.43 GAA)
Stuart Skinner –> (0.750 sv%, 5.33 GAA)
Campbell gets the start after an impressive outing vs Nashville. The Oilers are hoping Campbell can keep up his good play and help the Oilers make it out of Philly with another two points. Outside of the first Vancouver game where Campbell and the whole team were pretty awful, Campbell has been having a really good year considering the preseason as well. So far, the Vancouver game is the outlier, not the Nashville game. Let’s hope he builds on that tonight.
I would expect Skinner to get the start on Saturday, barring another magical performance by Campbell, so that Skinner doesn’t sit for too long. The Oilers need both goalies rolling, so giving Skinner the ball next game seems appropriate, but Campbell definitely earned the start for tonight.
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