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0-3-1	Ranks	5-0-0
Preseason		Preseason

Clean Sweep

Preseason games aren't worth a warm fart in an elevator, but the Oilers have won five of them now, and that's better than losing.  Edmonton's latest conquest saw them finish with a 3-0 victory over the Wild in Saskatoon on Saturday. Anders Nilsson is vying for the backup position, and he's only increasing his stock with a 25 save shutout.  Goals were scored by Anton Slepyshev, Oscar Klefbom and Rob Klinkhammer to help give the Oilers another preseason W.  They're back at the Pillbox tonight to face off against Arizona.

The Oilers are saying

"I thought Anders played well...Real early in the game, right off the bat, there were some strange bounces and he was tested right away so he was prepared and ready to play.  Then as the game wore on, 2-0, 3-0, they had a couple more chances that he needed to make some big saves on.  He looked big, looked confident and didn't give up much of the net.  When he was out of his crease playing pucks he did a very good job as well."

Source

That's Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan on goaltender Anders Nilsson.  Nilsson is vying for the backup netminder position with Ben Scrivens.

I don't know which way the organization is leaning when it comes to backup netminder.  Might I suggest that it only be two goalies, instead of three?  I'm reminded of the time when the team thought it a good idea to roll with Dwayne Roloson, JDD and Mathieu Garon.  Let's not do that again.  While we're at it, let's not do most of the last decade again.  Someone get on this.

The Opponent is saying

"I just want to be an overall better player...I want to put up some more points, be more solid defensively and improve everything this year."   Source

That's Coyotes forward Tobias Rieder.  Please recall his trade from the Oilers to Arizona for Kale Kessy.  Now, please try to forget all that.

Rieder's rookie campaign saw him pot thirteen goals in 72 games.  That's not bad for a fourth round pick in 2011. Meanwhile, Kale Kessy... (who was drafted three spots earlier than Rieder) well, he tries hard.

Line Combinations

From Jack Michaels.

Have some of this

• Anton Slepyshev on the first line with Hall and McDavid.  Here you go, kid.  Slepyshev is a long shot to make the club in 2015-16, but he's turned some heads in camp so far.
• Look for both goalies to get some action, starting with Anders Nilsson.  Two weeks ago, I think I would've said that Ben Scrivens would be your number 2.  Today, that might not be the case.
• The Coyotes had just three players score more than 40 points in 2014-15  Two of them (Sam Gagner, Keith Yandle) are no longer with the team.  Arizona's scoring woes have continued into the preseason, as they've scored just four total goals in four games.