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| 5-8-1, 11 points, .786 p/g | Ranks | 6-5-2, 14 points, 1.14 p/g |
| Western Conference - 14th | Eastern Conference - 11th | |
| 24th | P/G | 21st |
| 21st | ST | 3rd |
| 27th | ES | 9th |
| 28th | Goal | 25th |
Victory, Finally
A two goal third helped Edmonton secure their fifth victory on the year, and first on the road. The Sabres certainly made it interesting when they took a 2-1 lead early in the third period, but a goals from Mark Arcobello and a pretty set up from Teddy Purcell landed on Boyd Gordon's stick for the eventual game winner. Buffalo absorbed 52 shots from the Oilers, but kept it interesting until the very end.
The Oilers are currently 1-2 on their road trip, and will wrap it up Tuesday in Nashville before heading home.
The Oilers are saying
"I think the past three or four games, my game has been better even though the production's not there. But I feel good. I'm doing the right thing. It's just a matter of getting points. At one point it's going to come"
That's Oilers forward Benoit Pouliot on his inability to put points on the board.
Pouliot's on the first line, which causes a lot of folks to bristle. I admit, I'd rather see David Perron on the first line. Perron's shooting under 4% on the season, and I think it's only a matter of time for him to burst out.
The Opponent is saying
"I think at the end fo the day we need a better commitment to play a solid two-way game. Offensively, obvsiouly we were getting some good looks, but we need to tighten up things defensiely and I think a lot of that starts with our forwards getting available a little bit better and on the right side of the play. On their winning goal (Toronto), if you look at the final picture, they almost got a 4 on 0 on our goatlender. Some people missing there."
- Is Taylor Hall fixed yet? No? Okay.
- The Oilers will be getting Andrew Ference back in the lineup after serving a three game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Vancouver's Zack Kassian. Who's coming out? Martin Marincin. Normally I'd be fuming about Marincin coming out, but the eye test wasn't kind to him in Buffalo on Friday. Not sure Ference is an upgrade though.
- Iiro Pakarinen scored Edmonton's first goal on Friday. He'll be on the third line with Leon Draisaitl, and I'd like to see more than 7:40 of ice time for him.
- The Oilers are going back to Viktor Fasth tonight after Fasth's 29 save performance in Buffalo. Fasth picked up his first win on the year, and the Oilers avoided dropping a contest to a team who is actiely trying to lose. Henrik Lundqvist is expected to get the start for the Rangers, who has posted a ripe .901 SV% so far this year. "Ripe" like a dirty diaper, that is.
- Boyd Gordon, you guys.
PROJECTED LINES
The Edmonton Oilers
Benoit Pouliot - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Nail Yakupov - Mark Arcobello - David Perron
Teddy Purcell - Leon Draisaitl - Iiro Pakarinen
Matt Hendricks - Boyd Gordon - Jesse Joensuu
Andrew Ference - Justin Schultz
Jeff Petry - Nikita Nikitin
Keith Aulie - Mark Fayne
Viktor Fasth
The New York Rangers
Rick Nash - Derick Brassard - Martin St. Louis
Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Mats Zuccarello
Carl Hagelin - Dominic Moore - Lee Stempniak
Tanner Glass - Kevin Hayes - Anthony Duclair
Marc Staal - Kevin Klein
Matt Hunwick - Dan Girardi
Conor Allen - Michael Kostlka
Henrik Lundqvist