clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Oilers @ Lightning Game 45 Preview -

Even the losers get lucky sometime. Sometime.

By Jeff Chapman
Ondrej Palat
Ondrej Palat
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports


oilers logo black text

@
tampa bay lightning logo
10-25-9, 29 points, .66 p/g Ranks 10-24-9, 29 points, 1.288 p/g
Western Conference - 14th Eastern Conference - 3rd
30th P/G 9th
25th ST 18th
26th ES 3rd
29th Goal 13th
5:30 PM - SNO
Amalie Arena
The opposing view:  Raw Charge

Blues Make Quick Work Of Oilers

The Blues scored the first three goals in Tuesday night's game, while the Oilers were able to put up just fifteen shots en route to dropping a 4-2 decision in St. Louis.  Blues phenom Vladimir Tarasenko scored a goal and an assist, Player of the Week David Backes had a goal and an assist, and the Oilers never quite got their feet on the ground in this one.

In two games against the Blues, the Oilers have been able to hang a grand total of 31 shots.  That's about one every four minutes, and that's not nearly enough.  Tonight, the Oilers take on one of the teams they've defeated already this year, as they visit Tampa to take on the Lightning.

The Oilers are saying

"They have a lot of offense over there and a couple guys that you definitely have to key on"

That's Oilers forward Jordan Eberle on the riches of Tampa Bay

Eberle has a good point.  Everybody knows about Steven Stamkos (25-18-43 in 46 GP), but are you aware that centre Tyler Johnson (17-29-46) leads the Lightning in scoring?  What about Nikita Kurcherov (17-25-42 in 45 GP)?  Tampa Bay leads the league in goals scored, and they've got two other players with more than ten goals.  Perhaps if you launch Nikitin from a cannon into these players, they'll take notice.

The Opponent is saying

"They started it for sure.  But it is catchy"
That's Lightning forward Tyler Johnson in response to a question about European players playing techno music in the locker room.

It's good to be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.  You're first in the Atlantic, you've got the most goals scored in a game, and if your goaltending holds up, you're gonna go far.  Ben Bishop's win-loss is looking pretty at 21-7-2, but his SV% is a less than thrilling .909.  This becomes less of an issue if the Lightning continue to pump over three goals a game into the net.

Have some of this
  • DEREK ROY POINT CALCULATOR THING - Oilers got shlocked in St. Louis, but the Derek Roy Point Calculator™ keeps a rollin' on.  An assist on Benoit Pouliot's second of the game gives Derek Roy seven points in eight games as a member of the Oilers.  I can remember wanting the Oilers to give Derek Roy a deal in the offseason.  Now that they've got ten wins in forty-four games, I'm hoping he plays himself into a position to be dealt to a contender.
  • DRESS FOR SUCCESS - Yesterday's fourth line at practice looked like a hot mess without Boyd Gordon, who was off with a maintenance day.  Today, it looks a little bit nicer with Gordon between Hendricks and Klinkhammer.  Stop dressing Gazdic, guys.  The team's bad enough to tank without him in the lineup.  Fraser-Lander-Purcell is your third, with Pouliot-Roy-Yakupov on line two.  I can get behind that.
  • POINTS - The Oilers are 7-6-1 against the Eastern Conference so far this year.  They're 3-159 against everyone else.
  • HOW DO YOU LIKE ME RIGHT NOW? - A healthy Benoit Pouliot is the best kind of Benoit Pouliot in the world.  Pouliot is on a nice little tear with four goals in his last three games.  He's got thirteen points (8-5-13) in twenty-six games this year.  More of this.
  • DEVAN DUBNYK'S NEW GIG - It's not relevant to tonight's game, but Devan Dubnyk got traded from Arizona to Minnesota yesterday for a third round pick.  Dubnyk's starting for the Wild in Buffalo tonight.  Good on him.
  • TENDERS - The aforementioned Ben Bishop will start for the Lightning tonight.  Look for Ben Scrivens (8-15-7, .896 / 3.01) to get the go for Les Oilers.
  • TOIL IS STUPID - A bit was mentioned yesterday about Edmonton's lack of a "pack mentality" or the fact that not everybody went H.A.M after a couple Blues jumped Benoit Pouliot after the game.  Look, I get the fact that Edmonton isn't the most physical team, or the most aggressive team, or the hardest working team.  That's all well and nice, but the drum circle about how this team needs to be more physical is laughable.  Score more goals, Beat more opponents, and it will all fall into place. Sick of hearing about how St. Louis "ran our show".  You know why they ran our show?  Because they're a damn good hockey team.
  • EVEN THE LOSERS - They get lucky sometime.
  • GOILERS