Milan Lucic - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Anton Slepyshev
Benoit Pouliot - Leon Draisaitl - Jesse Puljujarvi
Zack Kassian - Mark Letestu - Tyler Pitlick
DEFENCE
Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera - Matthew Benning
Darnell Nurse - Eric Gryba
GOAL
Jonas Gustavsson
Cam Talbot
The Well's Still Dry
The Oilers will win more games if they can score more than two goals a game. That's not a bold statement. The trouble is, the Oilers are scoring about half of that number in recent days. A lone goal from Leon Draisaitl was a nice splash, but the Oilers were behind by three goals at this point. John Gibson turned aside 33 shots, and the Oilers lumbered to their fourth consecutive loss.
The good? Oilers are still getting off a bunch of shots. The bad? A little bit more. Cam Talbot's play has dropped off. Not many shots going in. The losses are piling up, and the club is no longer first in the Pacific.
But other than that, things are great.
The Oilers look to halt a four game losing streak tonight with a visit to Los Angeles. The Kings are also winless in their last four.
Let's go to the tape.
The Oilers are saying
"Tonight as opposed to some others there were more aggressive plays around the net and we missed some open nets, too...But we had too many shots from the blue line that were blocked or missed the net which is frustrating."
That's Oilers coach Todd McLellan on his team's one-goal performance against Anaheim on Tuesday night.
I miss it when the Oilers averaged four goals a game when the season started. Can we play Calgary more?
The opponents are saying
"It's a play that happens about 20 times a game and it was just one of those things where it was just a little bit awkward going in and that was it." Source
That's Kings forward Anze Kopitar on his upper body injury. Kopitar was injured in Friday's game against the Senators after a collision with Sens defenceman Marc Methot.
Should Kopitar be kept from this game, it would be a blow to the Kings'' attack. Kopitar is tied for third on the Kings with eight points (2-6-8) in 15 games.
Have some of this
Poor puck maintenance led to some ugly odd-man breaks for the Ducks. Don't be bluffed by the shots. Oilers deserved what they got!
SHOTS DON'T LIE: I don't think the shots were a bluff, but some brainfart stuff was again evident on a couple of the goals. If you missed the four-on-one that resulted on Anaheim's fourth goal, you're in luck. You're probably asking yourself how a four-on-one happens, and that's a pretty good question. It starts when three of your players get caught in their own zone while the other team starts to break out. I probably shouldn't have to mention this, but this sort of thing goes with not allowing a goal in the first eighteen seconds of a game.
IT MIGHT BE TIME TO GIVE CAM TALBOT A NIGHT OFF: Dude's playing a ton and the wins aren't coming right now for the Oilers. I don't like turning behind me and seeing Jonas Gustavsson, but Talbot's leading the league in minutes and could probably use a short nap somewhere.
TURN ON THE JUICE: Four straight losses and the power play is still struggling mightily. Oilers went 0/4 against the Ducks on Tuesday.
NOT MUCH BETTER OVER THERE: Can the Oilers take advantage of some woeful special teams in LA? Kings' PK ranks just 24th in the league, while their power play is an abysmal 26th.
Iiro Pakarinen (knee), Drake Caggiula (hip), Mark Fayne (undisclosed) Brandon Davidson (upper body) Matt Hendricks, and Kris Russell will be out for the Oilers. The Kings are without forwards Marian Gaborik (foot), Andy Andreoff (thumb) defenceman Brayden McNabb (arm) and goalies Jonathan Quick (groin) and Jeff Zatkoff (lower body). Look for Peter Budaj to get the call between the pipes for LA tonight.
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