Benoit Pouliot - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Zack Kassian
Patrick Maroon- Leon Draisaitl - Jesse Puljujäärvi
Tyler Pitlick - Mark Letestu - Anton Lander
DEFENCE
Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera - Kris Russell
Darnell Nurse - Eric Gryba
GOAL
Cam Talbot
Jonas Gustavsson
Four Wins In Five Games
Enjoy the wins. Don't look too far into them.
Milan Lucic's third period goal gave the Oilers the go-ahead on Thursday night, while Cam Talbot turned aside 33 of 34 shots en route to Edmonton's fourth victory in five games. Tyler Pitlick's name found the scoresheet once again, and Connor McDavid scored his fourth goal of the year on an empty-netter. The Oilers are winners of four of their first five, and it's good to be an Oilers fan right now.
"It's going to be a huge experience...Games against Winnipeg are a really good experience and good games too. It's going to be tough out there for sure and two points on the line. We've got to be ready."
That's Oilers defenceman Oscar Klefbom on meeting up with with the Jets in today's outdoor matchup.
A win today would catapult the Oilers into first place in the Western Conference. No pressure you guys.
The opponents are saying.
"It's not something you're really worried about...It's early in the year, it happens to a lot of teams. If you look at the trends in the past ten years, there's always a lot of goals scored at the beginning of the year." Source
That's Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck on the beginning of the NHL season. Turns out everybody's allowing a bunch of goals these days. Well, everyone except Vancouver, whatever that's about. Only Calgary and Carolina are allowing more goals per game so far.
Have some of this
UP AND DOWN: The Oilers recalled Matt Benning from Bakersfield and assigned Ben Betker. Along with Betker goes Laurent Brossoit, which would signal the activation of Jonas Gustavsson from injury.
SECONDARY SCORING: It's been just five games, but Tyler Pitlick has three goals in those five games. Keep putting the puck in the net, and it'll be 40 goals this year. Seriously though, is fifteen out of the question? Oilers will need to get goals from those not-so-likely sources, and Pitlick's little rainshower has been a wonderful addition these past five games.
EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE: Connor McDavid's assist on Milan Lucic's GWG on Thursday paired nicely with his empty netter en route to Edmonton's 3-1 win over the Blues. McDavid has eight points (4-4-8) in five games played. Nothing to see here, move along.
BACK: After being healthy-scratched the previous two games, Jesse Puljujäärvi will likely play with Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Maroon.
Cam Talbot (4-1-0, .904 SV% / 3.32 GAA) will start for the Oilers today. The Jets will likely run with Connor Hellebuyck (1-1-0, .863 SV% / 3.45 GAA)
Iiro Pakarinen (knee), Drake Caggiula (hip), Mark Fayne (undisclosed) Brandon Davidson (upper body) and Matt Hendricks (lower body) will not dress for the Oilers tonight. For the Jets, Bryan Little (lower body) will be out.
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51470327/usa-today-9620637.0.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7328269/jets3.0.jpg)