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Preview: Oilers vs. Flames Game 12

Nobody likes the Flames anyway.

Neon Leon
Neon Leon
Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports


Calgary

@

oilers logo black text
2-8-1, 5 points, .454 vp/g Ranks 4-7-0, 8 points, .727 p/g
Western Conference - 13th Western Conference - 11th
27th P/G 25th
14th ST 15th
22nd S/G 29th
30th Goal 25th
8 PM MDT
TV - CBC
Radio - 630 CHED
Rexall Place
The opposing view: Matchsticks and Gasoline

Two If By Ice

I'm a big fan of putting talented players with other talented players.  When Rob Klinkhammer went down with a knee injury the other day, the Oilers did the logical thing and brought up the best replacement in the system with Leon Draisaitl.  They replaced Rob Klinkhammer (who for whatever reason was filling in on the top line for an injured Jordan Eberle) with Leon Draisaitl.  Draisaitl came through in a big way on Thursday night, scoring two goals (including the game winner) en route to a 4-3 comeback victory over the red hot Montréal Canadiens.  Those very same Montréal Canadiens were in Calgary last night, working over the Flames by a score of 6-2.

The Oilers meet the Flames tonight at Rexall Place.

Let's go to the tape.

The Oilers are saying

"We've still got to talk to the doctor, but it's a possibility..."

Source

That's Oilers defenceman Griffin Reinhart on his possibility to return to the lineup tonight.

OBLIGATORY LAME HALLOWEEN PUN

Some scary things have been brewing up on the Oilers defence as of late.  Darnell Nurse has been trying to keep some of the more ghoulish things in check, but the Andrew Ference / Eric Gryba combination has compiled some bone chilling results as of late.

You're welcome to any of those, Principe.

If Reinhart is able to go, there's a fair shot that Andrew Ference would be a healthy scratch today.    Brandon Davidson had his first career goal in Thursday's comeback victory against Montréal.  He'll be there tonight.

The opponents are saying

"The good part of this is we have another game (Saturday) night and we have another situation where we have to roll up our sleeves, bare down on our chances and clean up our game defensively"  Source
That's Flames coach Bob Hartley on his team's 2-8-1 start.  Specifically, the team's 6-2 loss to the Canadiens last night.

It hasn't happened very much over the past decade, but the Flames are worse than the Oilers right now.  They're 2-8-1 in their first eleven games of the season, and they allow over four goals a game right now.  That's bad.  Know what else is bad?  Karri Ramo leads the Flames goalies with a SV% of .879.  Jonas Hiller has played in seven games for Calgary and trots out an impressively awful .861 SV%.  That's tremendously bad.  I feel a little bad.  Yeah, I'm over it now.

Have some of this
  • The Oilers are wearing those wonderful orange sweaters tonight.  No matter what happens, they'll look good doing it.
  • Cam Talbot (3-5-0, .904 SV% / 2.64 GAA) will likely get the start for the Oilers tonight, while Kari Ramo (0-3-0, .879 SV% / 4.38 GAA) will go for the Flames.  Compare Kari Ramo to a 35 year old Don Beaupre at the end of the line with the Ottawa Senators (6-23-0, .877 SV% / 3.73 GAA).
  • IS THE MCDAVID - YAKUPOV CONNECTION STILL A THING? You know it is.  Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov each had an assist on Benoit Pouliot's game-tying goal midway through the third. McDavid finished with two assists on the night, while Yakupov had one.
  • The Flames are struggling, but Johnny Gaudreau is humming right along (1-11-12).  The Flames have scored just 22 goals on the season, which makes Gaudreau in on over half of them.  Jiri Hudler (4-6-10) and Sean Monahan (2-5-7) round out Calgary's top 3 scorers.