The opposing view

PROJECTED LINES

FORWARDS

Milan Lucic - Connor McDavid - Leon Draisaitl

Patrick Maroon - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

Jesse Puljujarvi - Drake Caggiula - Zack Kassian

Matt Hendricks - Mark Letestu - Tyler Pitlick

DEFENCE

Kris Russell - Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera - Matt Benning

Oscar Klefbom - Mark Fayne

GOAL

Wild Trip Up Oilers In OT

Edmonton was able to get the Wild into overtime on Sunday night, but Minnesota took two points out of Edmonton by way of a OT goal by Mikko Koivu.

If you took a short nap during this one, I don't think anyone would give you very much grief.

Edmonton got on the board just three minutes into the first period when Patrick Maroon scored his eighth goal of the year.  Mark Fayne got two shots towards the net, and Maroon was able to jump on a rebound on Fayne's second shot to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.  Minnesota's Charlie Coyle would tie it up for the Wild in the last minute of the period with his ninth goal of the season.

The WIld and Oilers then played two periods of hockey with no goals.  The Oilers had a decent chance to come out of this game with two points, but an OT goal from Minnesota's Charlie Coyle would get Minnesota out of Edmonton with two points.

Edmonton begins a three game road trip tonight in Buffalo.  Will Jack Eichel be in the lineup after tweaking his ankle last night in Washington?

Let's go to the tape.

The Oilers are saying

"I was pretty shocked to be honest, but you know, I hit my mouth on the ice...Obviously the spotter thought he knew how he thought I was feeling...shitty time in the game too, where I guess, it's a little bit of partial five on three and then a power play after late in the second period, where if you capitalize it could change the game.

Source

Jack Eichel missed the first month and a half of the 2016-17 NHL season with a high ankle sprain.  He appears to have tweaked it in Buffalo's 3-2 OTL in Washington last night.  Both Eichel and Sabres coach Dan Bylsma say he's ready for tonight, but man, I don't know.

The Oilers are getting more mileage out of Jonas Gustavsson than I thought they would.  That's preposterous, you say.  Well, kinda.  Oilers are 31 games into the season, they're in a playoff spot right now, Cam Talbot is doing the heavy lifting, and Gustavsson has played in a total of 210 minutes of that time.  He's maintained a .923 SV% during that time, and if the Oilers are going to get good usage out of Jonas Gustavsson, I don't see how he effectively plays much more than 700 minutes the entire season. Which leads us to getting a backup goaltender, but hey, let's not go crazy all at once here.

WOE IS THEM:  GOOD:  Sabres are eighth overall in goals against in the league.  That's not bad!  BAD:  they score only 2 goals per game.  Woof.

LINE SWITCH - You've got Hendricks and Puljujarvi in for Pouliot and Slepyshev.  It's been a few games for Puljujarvi, and he'll be on a line centred by Drake Caggiula and Zack Kassian to the right. Matt Hendricks is paired with Letestu and Tyler Pitlick.

Those defensive pairs are...spread out.  I look forward to reading a host of tweets about Kris Russell isn't playing enough, or how he's playing too much, or how he will weed your garden because he used to weed gardens when he was a kid.  He's a third pair defenceman, and this team can use a third pair defenceman.   I don't know any sensible person who argues otherwise.  No need to dress windows.

MARK FAYNE is still in the lineup, which is good.  He's an actual NHL defenceman, and he can play higher up on the depth chart than some defencemen who certain individuals tend to make a lot of noise about.  If and when Brandon Davidson is good to go, I expect them to pull you out of the lineup. Keep firin' them on net, Mark Fayne.

Cam Talbot goes tonight for the Oilers (13-9-2, .916 SV% / 2.55 GAA / 3 SO) while last year's backup Anders Nilsson (4-2-2, .934 SV% / 2.30 GAA) goes for the Sabres tonight.

Iiro Pakarinen (knee), Darnell Nurse (lower body), Eric Gryba (undisclosed) and Brandon Davidson (upper body) will be out for the Oilers. The Sabres are without defenceman Josh Gorges (foot), Dmitry Kulikov (back), Zach Bogosian (knee), Taylor Fedun (shoulder) and forwards Tyler Ennis (groin), Cody McCormick (leg) and Nicolas Deslauriers (knee)

#GOILERS