Whatever It Is You're Doing, Try Something Else

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a really nice goal in Philadelphia.  As it turns out, no other Oilers would be able to score any goals, and the Flyers ended up scoring four.  That's not good enough for a win, and the Oilers took their seventh regulation loss in twelve games on the season.  Flyers goaltender Steve Mason turned aside 35 of 36 Oiler shots to earn his first victory of the 2014-15 season, while Jakub Voracek scored a pair for Philadelphia.  The Oilers are on a three game slide, and the game doesn't get any easier in Boston.

The Oilers are saying

Coach Dallas Eakins said Will Acton deserved Flyers game for time he's put in as #Oilers 13th forward. Now on waivers; will be sent to OKC.

— Joanne Ireland (@jirelandEJ) November 5, 2014

• Is Taylor Hall fixed yet?  No?  Okay.
• QUESTIONABLE DECISION MAKING - Martin Marincin will be scratched tonight in favour of Keith Aulie.  Go read that again if it sounds funny.  While Marincin may not be blazing trails so far in Edmonton, I have absolutely no idea why anyone thinks this is a good idea as Aulie has showed quite poorly in Oklahoma City.  Of course, the logical thing to do would be to call Aulie up and play him.  Of course. Hate to say I told you so.
• GOOD- Will Acton was waived yesterday.  The team is getting the fourth line of Hendricks/Gordon/Joensuu back together, as it's been one of the more effective groupings on the year.  Who's going to fill in at 3LW?  Linus Omark Someone from OKC.  Someone who might be Iiro Pakarainen, who has been doing pretty well (5-3-8 in seven games).  Keep your eyes peeled later this morning to find out.
• Expect the Oilers to go back to Ben Scrivens between the pipes.  Viktor Fasth had a less than memorable outing in Philadelphia, though he had a couple of weird bounces and some real special moments with the puck.  Scrivens (4-5-0, 3.01/.897) will be looking for his first win in three outings. Tuukka Rask (6-4-0, 2.53/.906) is likely for Boston.
• THERE'S NO CHARA FOR YOU - Boston continues to be without the services of their fourteen foot defence pillar Zdeno Chara, who continues to recover from a knee injury.  They're also without defenceman Torey Krug, who broke a finger, who will likely be out for a couple more weeks.
• Oilers will be without the services of defenceman Andrew Ference for two more games (tonight, Friday at Buffalo) as he continues to serve his three game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Canucks forward Zack Kassian
• FAMILIAR GROUND - Oilers are once again last in the Western Conference with nine points in 12 games.  After tonight, they'll be in Buffalo tomorrow followed by a visit to the Rangers on Sunday and the Predators on Tuesday.  Points don't get any easier save for maybe Buffalo, who took the Habs to a shootout last night.
• Remember that four game winning streak?  Yeah, that was fun.  The team has now gone three games without a W, and you'll never believe it, but the goaltending hasn't been nearly as good over these past three games as it was over the winning streak.  How much difference?  Scrivens was batting .940 over the winning streak.  It's dropped to .880 between Scrivens and Fasth over the past three. Combine that number with only four goals scored for Edmonton, and you're getting what's in this soup.