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7-13-1, 15 points, .714 p/g | Ranks | 7-10-4, 18 points, .858 p/g |
Western Conference - 14th | Eastern Conference -15th | |
30th | P/G | 26th |
20th | ST | 28th |
22nd | S/G | 8th |
15th | Goal | 27th |
Braden Holtby turned aside 33 shots en route to a shutout, and Capitals defenceman Dmitry Orlov scored the game's lone goal off a weird bounce. Washington emerged victorious by the slimmest of margins, but the Oilers looked pretty good in a losing effort. The Oilers are six games below a Bettman .500. Will the goals begin to come?
The Oilers are saying
"Doing contact (Tuesday) was the first time I really did any of that and felt pretty good...As long as I feel good tomorrow and keep improving, I'll be ready to go soon."
That's Oilers defenceman Justin Schultz, ready to get back into the lineup. Schultz has now missed twelve games with a back injury.
Schultz is likely out of tonight's lineup, but looks to be back sometime this road trip. Edmonton's next game is in Detroit on Friday.
The opponents are saying
"The boys played a really, really solid third...We're proud of coming back like that, but for sure we wanted two points. We'll take the one and move on."
Source
- We're 25% through the NHL season! The Oilers have....seven wins! They are....getting better! They need to score...more than zero goals in order to win games! Are the Oilers better than seven wins? I think so, by at least a couple. The Oilers played a real solid game against the Capitals on Monday night, and if it weren't for a weird bounce and some acrobatic saves by Braden Holtby, I think they could've skated out with a W and some confidence. Tonight's a good test to see if all of those good feelings in Washington can lead to a couple of points in Raleigh.
- Anton Lander caught a scratch last game. To compensate for that, the Oilers moved Luke Gazdic onto 4LW and Lauri Korpikoski to 4C. To the team's defense, Lander had himself a real bad outing against New Jersey, and it's understandable why he caught some sweet press box action against Washington. But ugh, Luke Gazdic and an out of place Lauri Korpikoski next to Iiro the Hero. What did Pakarinen do to deserve that? Gazdic played 5:38, no shots, no blocks, no hits. No kidding.
- Leon Draisaitl's point scoring stream came to an end when he failed to notch at least one point (along with the rest of the club) in Washington on Monday. Draisaitl's got 17 points (7-10-17) in eleven games. His S% is through the roof at 31.8. Score two more tonight.
- Anders Nilsson (4-5-1).908 SV% / 2.83 GAA) will get the start tonight in Carolina. I think Nilsson's really turned up the heat on Talbot, and is making a strong case to be thsi team's number one goalie for the season. He'll likely face off against Cam Ward (6-6-3, .902 SV% / 2.44 GAA / 1 SO)
- Oscar Klefbom missed practice yesterday after taking a high stick from Washington's Nicklas Backstrom. I don't want to think what happens if he's unable to go tonight. I think that means Andrew Ference. I sure hope Oscar Klefbom is ready to play tonight.
- For the Oilers, Connor McDavid (clavicle), Justin Schultz (back) Rob Klinkhammer (lower body) are out. Matt Hendricks (hand) missed practice yesterday and is questionable. Carolina will be without Nathan Gerbe (lower body), James Wisniewski (knee) and Ryan Murphy (concussion)