Oilers v. Kings - Leviticus 26:21-22

If,however, you and the Mullet cannot come to an agreement, I will inflict disaster upon you seven times over for your sins. Indeed, seven more trade deadlines will pass in misery. Whether fighting at home or on the road, your enemies will embarrass you time after time. Your fanbase will start to dwindle, your streets will no longer be a venue for celebration, and the Mullet himself will be sent back to this place to endure torment while his former team claims glory.

Los Angeles Kings @ Edmonton Oilers

Rexall Place, 6:00 p.m. MST
Television: Sportsnet

The Race to the Bottom (It's Happening Again):

Visiting Team Scouting Report: The Los Angeles Kings are a much better team that the Edmonton Oilers, so it's probably somewhat surprising to hear that the Oilers have actually scored nine more goals than L.A. on the season. Now, the Kings have also allowed the fewest goals in the NHL, which is why they're solidly in the playoffs, but that lack of scoring was no doubt a concern for Kings' GM Dean Lombardi heading into the deadline. And credit to him, the acquisition of Marian Gaborik is a solid attempt to fix the problem. Gaborik will be playing in his second game with the Kings tonight, and will be looking for his first point.

Expected Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers (22-34-8):

Hall - Gagner - Perron
Yakupov - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
Hendricks - Gordon - Joensuu
Smyth - Lander - Jones

Marincin - Schultz
Ference - Fraser
Klefbom - Larsen

Scrivens

Los Angeles Kings (36-22-6):

Gaborik - Kopitar - Williams
Toffoli - Richards - Carter
King - Stoll - Brown
Clifford - Lewis - Nolan

Muzzin - Doughty
Regehr - Voynov
Mitchell - Martinez

Quick

By The Numbers:

• The Oilers decided to bring Anton Lander up from the farm in a decision that's surprisingly controversial. With 45 points in 42 AHL games, there's no question that Lander deserves an NHL look, but Mark Arcobello, who has 22 points in his only 11 AHL games this season would seem to deserve similar treatment. Hard to believe a team with such a poor bottom end of their roster and Ryan Smyth playing fourth-line center could have two viable center options on the farm, but that's the Oilers!
• The Kings acquired Marian Gaborik at the deadline and are no doubt hoping that he's still one of the league's elite goalscorers despite his showing some signs of decline. In 427 regular season games from 2005-06 to 2011-12, Gaborik averaged 0.53 goals per game, but over the last two seasons, Gaborik has averaged just 0.26 goals per game in 70 games. It's possible that Gaborik just never found a good fit in Columbus, but he is getting older, so it may well be that he's now on the downside of his career.
• Ben Scrivens really has made a huge difference for the Oilers. In his nine starts, Scrivens has allowed just 19 goals, or 2.1 per game. In the other 55 games, Oiler goaltenders have allowed a total of 177 goals, or 3.2 per game. Scrivens may not be able to sustain his current number, but that change is clearly the biggest reason we've seen more crooked numbers in the win column over the last couple of weeks.