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Jets @ Oilers Game 39 Preview

It can only get better from here. Right?

Evander Kane points to the bus
Evander Kane points to the bus
Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Spor




Jets_4

@

Oilers3
16-17-5 .987 p/g Ranks 11-24-3, .658 p/g
Western Conf: 11th Western Conf: 14th
22nd P/G 29th
8th ST 25th
19th ES 29th
19th Goal 30th
7:30 PM MDT - Sportsnet West
Rexall Place
The opposing view: Arctic Ice Hockey

Tickets - TiqIQ

Top Story

  • The Oilers have lost six consecutive NHL games. Most recently, they lost in spectacular fashion to the St. Louis Blues by a score of 6-nil. The Oilers are exactly two wins better than the Buffalo Sabres right now, which is sort of hilariously awful. The numbers suggest the team is playing better, but it's not yet translating over to the score sheet, and (most importantly) to the win column. When fans are tossing $300 jerseys on to the ice, things are pretty bad.

The Oilers are saying:

"It's like we love misery. It's like 'Oh hold on a second, things are going too well here. Let's have some misery.' I've had enough misery already and we've got some players who have been here for a number of years that have to be done with it"

That's Oilers coach Dallas Eakins on how the Oilers are done with misery.

A quick misery checklist for Eakins' first 38 games behind the bench looks like this...

  • Eight shorthanded goals on the season. Winnipeg has five.
  • Oilers have most goals allowed in the league with 133. The Islanders are next with 129.
  • Oilers have lost 24 games. They've had a five game losing streak on four occasions so far this season. Tonight's game versus Winnipeg is only the 39th game of the season.
  • April will mark the eighth consecutive year out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even the Panthers and Leafs get in once in a while. Reserve your tickets to the 2014 NHL Draft NOW.
Eakins says he's through with misery, but he's only been around for about two minutes of the movie.

The Opponent is saying:

"I thought we played a pretty good road game. I thought our second period was good. We gave them a couple power plays in the first. I thought our intensity stepped up in the second. I think we carried a lot of the play. We weren't able to close out and push ahead. That was one of the problems we had."

That's Jets coach Claude Noel after Winnipeg's 2-1 loss in Vancouver on Sunday night.

This game could be Edmonton's best chance at a win since the Boston game. I'm saying this without a hint of irony or sarcasm. Ondrej Pavalec was in net for the Jets, which means either Pavelec goes again for the second time in two nights, or Al Montoya gets the start. You've got a Jets team that won't be 100% rested, while the Oilers are ought to be good and sour after getting killed St. Louis, plus they've probably been bag skated since Sunday at 3 AM.

If the Oilers can't at least make this one interesting, I've got nothing for you.

Projected Lines & Pairings:

The Edmonton Oilers

Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

David Perron - Sam Gagner - Nail Yakupov

Ryan Smyth - Boyd Gordon - Ales Hemsky

Luke Gazdic- Anton Lander - Jesse Joensuu

Andrew Ference - Justin Schultz

Anton Belov - Jeff Petry

Nick Schultz - Corey Potter

Ilya Bryzgalov

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The Winnipeg Jets

Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Blake Wheeler

Chris Thorburn - Olli Jokinen - Devin Setoguchi

Evander Kane - Mark Scheifele - Michael Frolik

Eric Tangradi - Eric O'Dell - John Albert

Dustin Byfuglien - Adam Pardy

Zach Bogosian - Tobias Enstrom

Mark Stuart - Jacob Trouba

Ondrej Pavalec