The Edmonton Oilers.
A force in the Scotiabank Northern Division Presented by Scotiabank. Their lineup features two of the league’s most dynamic forwards.
In Connor McDavid, you have a rare combination of speed and skill. And not like, normal hockey player speed. This is the launched out of a cannon kind of quickness. If you see McDavid picking up steam in his own end of the rink, it’s already too late. At that point you have three options- trip him, tackle him or change and let someone else end up on SportsCentre.
In Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers have the defending Hart Trophy winner. He gets lost in the hype around McDavid sometimes but he’s almost as impressive. You sometimes forget about him for a little bit and then all of a sudden he has three goals, two assists and it’s still the second period.
Yes indeed, the Oilers are a powerhouse.
Well except for the fact that they ain’t won shit. I mean, as a franchise they’ve won like 40 Stanley Cups but nothing recently. The stink of playoff failure is overwhelming with this group and their ability to elevate and then ultimately crush the expectations of their fan base is matched only by the team sitting a couple spots above them in the North Division standings.
And yea, they’ve beat Ottawa six straight times this season. Sure, they’ve outscored Ottawa by a 28-13 margin in those games. And yes, I did get second-hand embarrassment in my own home watching that last game.
But THIS one is going to be different. This time we show these wannabe contenders the REAL Ottawa Senators. We hit ‘em. We outwork ‘em. And we BEAT THEM!!!!!
And if not, at least we don’t have to play them again until next month.
The Ottawa Senators end their series against the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
With Colin White out for sure and a couple other guys considered “game-time decisions”, DJ Smith may have to make a couple changes up front. One change on defence as Christian Wolanin draws in. He better figure it out soon because he turns 26 in five days which will means he’s officially a veteran and we hate him.
Here’s tonight’s lineup, which is almost entirely made up of people you have heard of.
Tkachuk-Tierney-C Brown
Paul-Norris-Dadonov
Stützle-Anisimov-Batherson
Bishop/Dzingel-Peca-Watson
Chabot-Zaitsev
Reilly-Zub
Wolanin/Brannstrom-Gudbranson
Puck drop is scheduled for just after 9:00 PM which is unreasonably late but at least it’s not a school night. The game is available on ESPN+ for some reason. If that doesn’t work, check it out on The New RO or the Team 1200. Maybe you can stream it on your dial-up internet. Ha!
Here’s your damn table.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 9-19-1 (19 pts) | 17-11-0 (34 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.59 (25th) | 3.32 (6th) |
| Goals Against | 3.97 (31st) | 2.96 (T-16th) |
| Power Play | 14.3% (27th) | 26.6% (7th) |
| Penalty Kill | 73.7% (T-25th) | 76.7% (21st) |
| Shots For | 31.6 (4th) | 31.2 (8th) |
| Shots Against | 31.8 (27th) | 31.6 (26th) |
| Leading Scorers | Chabot- 19 pts Batherson- 18 pts Tkachuk- 18 pts Norris- 15 pts Stützle- 15 pts |
McDavid- 48 pts Draisaitl- 42 pts Barrie- 22 pts RNH- 21 pts Nurse- 19 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | TBD |
