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Saturday night hockey, the Oilers and Flames on Hockey Night in Canada. What's not to like about? Nothing. Add in the fact that the Flames are struggling right now with just a pair of wins in their first 11 games, are getting goaltending that is very reminiscent of the 2014/14 and 2014/15 Oilers, and that they played last night night, and this is a game that could be a lot of fun for Oilers fans. This is a game that is there for the taking, and if the Oilers want to be taken seriously they need to win it.
How To Watch
Puck drop: 8:00PM MST
TV: CBC
Radio: 630 CHED
What To Watch For
How about those lovely orange jerseys. The players wearing them are probably worth watching too, but be sure to take the time to marvel at just how beautiful those orange jerseys are. The Oilers really did a nice job of staying consistent with the 1972 WHA era originals. Having Alberta on the back instead of the player's names would have been fantastic, but perhaps would have gone just a little to far as well.
The Opposing View
From Matchsticks & Gasoline:
More on the Flames
More on the Flames
A team has NEVER made the playoffs after starting this badly. Either the Flames are going to break that trend, or they're going to go back to the rebuild (which, quite honestly, never really went away did it? And that's not a bad thing).
So, in order to reverse that trend, they start in Edmonton, and a trip to visit Connor McDavid - and it's live on national TV, so the entire country can see how bad they are!
That is one of the best things I've ever read about the Flames. They're a team in a tough spot right now. And the best part is (for Oilers fans at least) is that it can still get so much worse for them.
Projected Line Combinations
Forwards | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Taylor Hall | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Leon Draisaitl | |||
Benoit Pouliot | Connor McDavid | Nail Yakupov | |||
Anton Slepyshev | Iiro Pakarinen | Teddy Purcell | |||
Luke Gazdic | Anton Lander | Mark Letestu | |||
Defence | |||||
Darnell Nurse | Andrej Sekera | ||||
Brandon Davidson | Oscar Klefbom | ||||
Andrew Ference | Eric Gryba | ||||
Goalies | |||||
Cam Talbot | |||||
Anders Nilsson |