Oilers v. Flames - Genesis 29:25-27

When morning came, Ladislav was told he'd been traded! So he went to Craig and said, "What have you done to me? Have I not served this rebuild for seven years so that I might be part of the success at the end? Why did you deceive me by assuring me of my place on this team when I signed that new contract?" Craig said, "Honoring stupid agreements made by that buffoon Tambo just isn't how I roll unless I absolutely have to, Laddy. But if you serve Calgary's rebuild for seven more years, I'm sure they'll let you share in the fruit of their labor."

Edmonton Oilers @ Calgary Flames

Scotiabank Saddledome, 8:00 p.m. MST
Television: CBC

Visiting Team Scouting Report: It's hard to believe, but the Flames have been almost as bad as the Oilers over the last little while. After beginning the season with a record of 4-2-2 and an even goal differential in regulation time, the Flames have gone 2-8-1 with a -17 goal differential in regulation time over their last eleven games. The big problem over those eleven contests has been goaltending and defense as the Flames have allowed four or more goals in seven of those eleven games. The Flames have given up 71 goals in total on the season, which is just plain bad. The only team worse? The Oilers, who have allowed 81 in two more games. So if nothing else, at least tonight's game should have plenty of scoring.

Expected Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers (4-15-2):

Hall - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
Yakupov - Gagner - Hemsky
Smyth - Gordon - Perron
Gazdic - Acton - Jones

Ference - Petry
Belov - Larsen
Klefbom - Schultz

Dubnyk

Calgary Flames (6-10-3):

Baertschi - Monahan - Hudler
Cammalleri - Colborne - Stempniak
Galiardi - Stajan - Jones
Jackman - Backlund - McGrattan

Wideman - Russell
Butler - Brodie
Smid - Smith

Berra

By The Numbers:

• Oscar Klefbom was called up from Oklahoma City yesterday, and there's a good chance we'll see him make his NHL debut tonight. Klefbom earned just one point (an assist) in twelve games with the Barons, which continues the trend of rave reviews for his puck-moving mixed with terrible offensive numbers. It's the kind of scouting report that reminds me a lot of former (sigh) Oilers' defenseman Ladislav Smid.
  
• Ladislav Smid plays his first game against the Oilers tonight and it will be interesting to see how much ice time he gets. In Smid's first game with the Flames he played just 16:50, but in his second against Dallas, that number shot up to 19:51. My guess is that Smid's average in Calgary winds up being much closer to the second number than it does to the first.
• Among regulars, Boyd Gordon has the second-most extreme offensive/defensive zone-start split in the entire league with 84.6% of his end-zone faceoffs coming in the defensive zone. The only player ahead of him is Jay Rosehill, who actually takes most of his faceoffs in the neutral zone. That means an extreme percentage but not such tough sledding. This isn't the case for Gordon who has taken 62.7% of all faceoffs in the defensive zone, by far the highest percentage among NHL regulars.