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Oilers @ Bruins Game 57 Preview

Scrivens set to turn aside 59 more shots this afternoon as Oilers head East

By Jeff Chapman
Derek Leung



Oilers3

@
Bruins545
18-32-9, .750 p/g Ranks 34-16-3, 1.34 p/g
Western Conference: 14th Eastern Conference: 2nd
29th P/G 7th
26th ST 9th
28th ES 3rd
30th Goal 2nd
11:00 AM MDT - Sportsnet West
TD Garden
The opposing view: Stanley Cup Of Chowder


Lightning Strikes

Ben Scrivens played his way into Oilers history on Thursday night when he turned aside all fifty nine San Jose shots en route to a 3-0 shutout victory.  This is the kind of headline that I'd write when I was purposely trying to be snarky about the defence, but ultimately I'd shy away from due to it not being believable.  Ben Scrivens turning away 59 shots en route to a shutout is probably a once in a generation event, so I hope you got it on VHS tape when it happened.

He's Got A Growl

In an attempt to stock the team with as many former Marlies as possible, the Oilers acquired Mark Fraser from Toronto yesterday.  A replacement level defenceman with the Maple Leafs, Fraser has appeared in 19 games this year, collecting one assist to go with 33 PIMs.  This move should come as somewhat a surprise to Oilers fans, as the team just got done allowing 59 shots in 60 minutes of play on Thursday.  Surely, the team would make a move to help shore up the D.  What use do the Oilers have for a replacement level defenceman who can't score, or help keep the puck out of their end?  Oh, right.

The Oilers are saying
"Mark is a very kind-hearted guy off the ice, but when he steps on the ice he is mean.  I thought, not only I but our organization, that our backend we wanted to add a little bit more of a growl back there and Mark will be able to do that.  He understands where he's at, he's going to have to come in here, audition through the end of the year and see where this goes"

That's Oilers coach Dallas Eakins on newly-acquired defenceman Mark Fraser.

A growl?  For real?

Acquiring Mark Fraser cost Cam Abney and the rights to Teemu Hartikainen.  If this trade was made strictly for Cam Abney, I don't think anyone here would've had an issue with it, although I doubt Fraser's effectiveness either way. Giving away Teemu Hartikainen in the process is dumb.  When the trade was announced, I had a parade of folks tell me on Twitter that Hartiakainen was just another Omark, and that because Hartikainen was in the KHL, he didn't matter, and good riddance to bad rubbish.

That's a pretty stupid way to think.  Has it gotten so bad that any move the organization makes will be applauded and barked at like a seal?  Looking back, I'm fairly sure we're all quite happy at the Perron deal, but take this one at face value. Do the Oilers need another 7th defenceman from a team that's already got their fair share of issues on defence?

Does this deal make sense?  Does it make the Oilers better than they were for the Sharks game?

The Oilers acquired more of what they already have.  How does this help?  What does a 7th defenceman on the Leafs bring to the Oilers, who yielded 59 shots in a sixty minute game?

The Opponent is saying

"Our team was poor tonight, 'K?  So maybe sometimes you pull a goalie for different reasons, and I don't think I have to explain everything to you guys for the reasons, because there's a lot of decisions that I make that are for inside that dressing room, not necessarily for everyone to share."
That's Bruins coach Claude Julien on why he pulled Tuukka Rask from Thursday night's 4-1 loss to the Canadiens.

Could you imagine Julien giving the Edmonton MSM an answer like that?

The Bruins had a less than enthusiastic outcome in their 4-1 loss to Montréal on Thursday, and Tuukka Rask was yanked after yielding the third Canadiens goal, a power play goal scored by Brian Gionta.  Rask finished the night with 15 saves on 18 shots.  He's still first the league with five shutouts, and he still has a tidy .928 SV%.  This story would probably have some legs if the Bruins were awful, they aren't.

This and that:
  • Andrew Ference is expected to be back in the lineup against his former club. Ference missed the last week with a head injury.
  • GROWL - Newly acquired defenceman Mark Fraser is set to make his debut this afternoon.
  • Matt Hendricks (head) could go today.  Ales Hemsky probably won't. will go.

The Edmonton Oilers

Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

Nail Yakupov - Sam Gagner - David Perron

Ryan Jones - Boyd Gordon - Ales Hemsky

Luke Gazdic - Ryan Smyth - Jesse Joensuu

Andrew Ference - Justin Schultz

Mark Fraser - Anton Belov

Jeff Petry - Martin Marincin

Ben Scrivens

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The Boston Bruins

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Jarome Iginla

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Reilly Smith

Daniel Paille - Carl Soderberg - Loui Eriksson

Gregory Campbell - Chris Kelly - Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara - Dougie Hamilton

Matt Bartkowski - Johnny Boychuk

Kevan Miller - Torey Krug

Tuukka Rask