Oilers v. Blues - 1 Samuel 16:6-13

MacTavish arrived at the building having seen a vision that he was to anoint the defenseman who had been selected to play in the Olympics. He saw Jeff Petry on his way in, and thought, "I can't imagine anyone else having a chance." But then he heard a voice saying, "Don't judge by your own understanding, for God chooses whomever he wills."

So MacTavish went to see Justin Schultz, but he wasn't the one God had chosen. He then picked up the phone to call Ladislav Smid, figuring that God might've been engaging in a long con to rebuke him for a stupid trade, and though MacTavish discovered that he had indeed been chosen, God promised he'd also selected a current member of the team. And so MacTavish went to everyone who had played at least fifty NHL games, but none of them had been selected either.

Then he heard the voice again saying, "Are these all of the defensemen you have?"

"There is still the youngest," MacTavish said aloud, "And the Russian, but he's been a healthy scratch for a while now." So MacTavish sent for the Slovakian, and when Martin Marincin arrived, MacTavish knew in his heart that this was the one. So as Marincin stood there, MacTavish took a flask of oil, and anointed Marincin, pouring it on his head as he congratulated him. Marincin was confused by the ritual, not sure if it was legit or some strange form of hazing, but he didn't dare ask about it for fear of being sent to Oklahoma. From that day forward, God's spirit was with Martin Marincin and he had tremendous success.

When MacTavish left, he ran into Anton Belov, who told him excitedly that he'd been selected to Russia's Olympic team, and MacTavish was suddenly very nervous.

St. Louis Blues @ Edmonton Oilers

Rexall Place, 7:30 p.m. MST
Television: Sportsnet

Visiting Team Scouting Report: The Oilers played the Blues just before Christmas, and the calculus hasn't changed since then. The Blues are still awesome, and the Oilers are still awful. Since St. Louis's 6-0 drubbing of the Oilers the last time they visited Rexall, they've put together a solid record of 5-0-1, the lone overtime loss coming to the Flames (doing their part to give Edmonton the best possible chance at drafting first overall for the fourth time in five years). More surprisingly, the Oilers, have gone 3-2-2 since that 6-0 defeat, one of their better seven-game stretches of the season.

Expected Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers (14-26-5):

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

Ference - J Schultz
Marincin - Petry
N Schultz - Hunt

Bryzgalov

St. Louis Blues (29-7-5):

Schwartz - Backes - Oshie
Sobotka - Berglund - Tarasenko
Morrow - Roy - Stewart
Paajarvi - Lapierre - Reaves

Bouwmeester - Pietrangelo
Shattenkirk - Jackman
Cole - Leopold

Elliott

By The Numbers:

• Given that the Edmonton Oilers aren't going to win forty-two games this season, 2013-14 will be the 25th consecutive season in which they will have won no more than 50% their regular season games. The last time they did was 1987-88, when Wayne Gretzky led the team to 44 regular season wins (and a fourth Stanley Cup in the playoffs) in his last year with the team.
• Opportunity is really important when it comes to putting up offensive numbers. Mark Arcobello has played a variety of roles for the Oilers this season, and he's a good illustration of that principle. Arcobello has seen at least fifteen minutes of ice time in seventeen games this season, and has scored eleven points in those games, or 0.65 points per game. He has played less than fifteen minutes of ice time in sixteen games this season, and has scored five points in those games, or 0.31 points per game.