Patrick Maroon - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Zack Kassian - Leon Draisaitl - Anton Slepyshev
Matt Hendricks - Drake Caggiula - Tyler Pitlick
DEFENCE
Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera - Kris Russell
Darnell Nurse - Matthew Benning
GOAL
Cam Talbot
Jonas Gustavsson
McDavid Hat Trick Powers Oilers To Win
Connor McDavid's first career hat trick propelled the Oilers to a 5-2 victory over Dallas on Saturday night. The Oilers finally snap a five game winless streak, not a moment too soon. McDavid's three goals put to rest a ten game period in which he didn't score a goal, though he remained tied for second in the league in assists. Tyler Pitlick registered a goal, Oscar Klefbom had a goal, and save for a double-minor penalty taken by Zack Kassian in the second period which resulted in Dallas scoring twice, this game went pretty well for the good guys. Cam Talbot turned aside 31 of 33 shots en route to his ninth victory of the season. Birds singing, cats meowing. Good times.
Chicago visits Rogers Place tonight to face off against the Oilers. Can the Oilers turn aside a giant?
Let's go to the tape.
The Oilers are saying
"It's huge for us...The toughest one to win is the one to get you out of the slide, so we did that and hopefully it doesn't happen again for a long time and we're building off this."
That's Oilers captain Connor McDavid on snapping a five game losing streak.
McDavid's three goals were a giant glass of water in a five game desert of mostly crap. McDavid's three goal performance pushes him even further atop the Oiler stat sheet with 22 points (8-14-22) with Jordan Eberle a distant second at 13. (5-8-13)
The opponents are saying
"The first part of the season you're more worried about just staying in the lineup and doing things right, with the puck and without the puck...Once we got that down, I think we're all pretty comfortable, and we're going to keep getting more scoring chances so that we can be that secondary scoring." Source
That's Blackhawks forward Vince Hinostroza on finding his way as a rookie in Chicago.
Hinostroza is one of the new kids on Chicago's block. Hinostroza had a goal and an two assist in Chicago's overtime victory against Vancouver.
Have some of this
KASSIAN: Took a hooking call later on in the second period. Made it better by taking two additional minutes for an unsportsmanlike conduct call. Dallas scored twice during the four minute advantage. Ten minutes of ice in Dallas, including some PK time as well. Would not be surprised to see him in the press box tonight now that the Oilers have some options.
POULIOT: He sat against Dallas. Think he'll find his way back tonight.
HENDRICKS: First game of the season for Hendricks, ten minutes of ice time and including PK time. I think we'll see him again tonight.
RUSSELL: What's fun about Kris Russell is that so far, he's this year's polarizing player. After riding the PDO wave, his numbers are perfectly in line with a bottom pair defender. That's not to say that he doesn't have value, but without Matthew Benning or Eric Gryba in the lineup, he's on the third pair. Nearly twenty minutes of ice time in Dallas, some PK time and under a minute on the power play. Blocked three shots, which is his bread, brandy and butter.
MCDAVID: We are not worthy.
Cam Talbot (9-7-1, .916 SV% / 2.62 GAA / 2 SO) will likely go for the Oilers, looking for his tenth win on the season. Cory Crawford (9-4-1, .928 SV% / 2.17 GAA) is likely for the Blackhawks.
Iiro Pakarinen (knee) and Brandon Davidson (upper body) will be out for the Oilers. Defenceman Trevor Van Riemsdyk (upper body) will be unavailable for the Blackhawks.
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