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Kings @ Oilers Game 81 Preview

Winless in their last three, Kings look to bust a slump in Edmonton

By Jeff Chapman
Martin Jones
Martin Jones
Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports


Los_angeles

@
Oilers3
45-28-7, 1.212 p/g Ranks 28-43-9, .812 p/g
Western Conference: 7th Western Conference: 14th
9th P/G 28th
7th ST 26th
5th ES 29th
1st Goal 30th
7:30 PM MDT - TSN
Rexall Place
The opposing view: Jewels From The Crown
Tickets - TiqIQ


My God, Did You See When Nathan MacKinnon Blew By Mark Fraser Like Fraser Was A Burlap Sack?

The Avalanche are riding high against the numbers, but it didn't so much matter on Tuesday night as they took care of the Oilers by the score of 4-1.  J.S. Gigeure turned aside 22 saves, four different Avs had goals, and it was Edmonton's 52nd loss of the year if you include 9 times the club has lost in overtime or shootout. David Perron hda the lone Oiler goal, his 28th of the year.  Would be nice to see him hit 30.

But seriously, the Fraser / MacKinnon thing.

The Oilers are saying

"It was a small step backwards"

That's Oilers defenceman Jeff Petry on Tuesday's loss to the Avalanche

The Oilers are going to need to win both of their remaining games (tonight vs. LA, Saturday vs. Vancouver) to reach 30 wins this season.  Two wins would give them 69 points on the year.  I was hoping the Oilers would at least be out of the tire fire and somewhere more towards Winnipeg or Calgary's finish instead of the LET'S FINISH 29TH INSTEAD OF 28TH talk.

But hey, this is only the fourth year of the rebuild.  I should be more patient.

The Opponent is saying

"Obviously, you want to win... You want to be playing better at the start of the game.  That's something we can take from this game.  Obviously, now it's behind us.  We know what start we need to have and move forward"
That's Kings forward Dwight King on LA's 4-3 shootout loss to the Flames on Wednesday, obviously.

"Playing sixty minutes" is a pretty old cliché, but a bad period of hockey can cost you two points.  I'm sure I don't need to remind any of you how bad some third periods have looked for the Oilers this year.  Los Angeles yielded the first three goals to the Flames on Wednesday.  They were able to tie it up and send it to a shootout, but shootout goals by Jiri Hudler and Sean Monahan were enough to grab two points for the Flames, who could end up with 81 points if they win their last two games.

Have some of this
  • GOOD COMPANY: The Kings have yielded the fewest goals of the NHL season with 170 in 80 games.  That's one better than Boston (171) and eleven better than St. Louis (181).
  • Jonathan Quick was in net for LA last night. Martin Jones (11-6, .932SV%) should go for LA tonight.
  • Viktor Fasth (3-1-1, .897SV% in Edmonton) will go between the pipes for the Oilers.  Baron Von Scrivens will start in the season finale versus Vancouver.
  • SICK BAY: Boyd Gordon (shoulder) will miss the rest of the season along with Nail Yakupov, Andrew Ference, Jesse Joensuu, Luke Gazdic, Ryan Jones, and whoever else gets injured tonight.
  • Edmonton's bottom six.  Yeah.
The Los Angeles Kings

Marian Gaborik - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams

Dwight King - Jeff Carter - Tyler Toffoli

Tanner Pearson - Jarret Stoll - Dustin Brown

Kyle Clifford - Mike Richards - Trevor Lewis

Robyn Regehr - Drew Doughty

Alec Martinez - Willie Mitchell

Jake Muzzin - Slava Voynov

Martin Jones

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The Edmonton Oilers

Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

Ryan Smyth - Sam Gagner - David Perron

Matt Hendricks - Will Acton - Steve Pinizzotto

Philip Larsen - Anton Lander - Tyler Pitlick

Martin Marincin - Jeff Petry

Oscar Klefbom - Justin Schultz

Mark Fraser - Anton Belov

Viktor Fasth