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Preview: Game 74 Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks

Oilers score four power play goals in victory over St. Louis on Wednesday. Do they have any more of those laying around?

By Jeff Chapman
Four power play goals! 4!
Four power play goals! 4!
Walter Tychnowicz-USA TODAY Sports


Vancouver

@
Edmonton
27-30-12, 66 points,  .957 p/g- Ranks 28-38-7, 63 points, .863 p/g
Pacific Division - 5th Pacific Division - 7th
24th P/G 29th
22nd ST 20th
25th S/G 21st
22nd Goal 25th
7:00 PM MDT
TV - Sportsnet West
Radio - 630 CHED
Rexall Place
The opposing view:  Nucks Misconduct

Oilers Top Blues With Four Power Play Goals

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had TWO power play goals, Leon Draisaitl had one, and so did Mark Letestu as the Oilers took down the Blues by a score of 6-4.  Edmonton took a 5-2 lead into the second intermission and made it interesting by allowing two third period goals, but Letestu had an empty netter late in the third to seal the deal.

I was certain that the Oilers hadn't scored four power play goals in well over 25 years, until Bruce McCurdy discovered that it was early in 2013 when the Oilers popped the Avalanche for four.  That's all the Oilers really have to do, you guys.  Score four with the man advantage, and you're square.

The Oilers face off against a struggling Vancouver Canucks team this evening.  Do the Oilers have four more power play goals left in them?  How about one?  Let's go to the tape.

The Oilers are saying

"I thought last night we did a good job of getting to secondary pucks in and around the net."

Source

That's Oilers head coach Todd McLellan on a six goal explosion from the Edmonton Oilers, a game that included four power play goals.

The Oilers' power play was a hot mess entering Wednesday night's game.  Four goals to a team with an abysmal power play is like twelve gallons of water to a man who hasn't had a drink in a week.  Can the Oilers carry some of those over to tonight?

The opponents are saying

"I think our power play has to be a little bit better.  We got to get a few more off the power play.  Plus, we have to get more power plays.  We just don't get enough power plays."   Source

That's Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins on...power plays.

POP TARTS
Vancouver's power play currently sits at 22nd overall at 17.1%.  I need the audio of that quote from Desjardins.  Do you like pop tarts?  I think our pop tarts could be better.  We just don't get enough pop tarts.

Have some of this

  • Next year's our year!
  • EVERYBODY LOVES YOU, VANCOUVER - These teams will face off three more times including tonight.  Everybody loves playing the Canucks.
  • Wednesday night saw the NHL debut of Vancouver's 6'7" defenceman Nikita Tryamkin.  He's big.  Let's see how he handles the core tonight.
  • POWER PLAY EXPLOSION - The Oilers scored four goals on the man advantage last game against St. Louis, and because of this, their power play VAULTED into 20th overall at 17.6%.  That might not seem like much, but that one game put them up six spots.  Four more goals on the power play won't guarantee another six spot leap, but it'd probably be good for another win in the standings.
  • Cam Talbot (18-24-4, .917 SV% / 2.55 GAA / 2 SO) will likely go tonight against Vancouver's Jacob Markstrom (11-9-4, .914 SV% / 2.65 GAA).
  • Two more assists for Connor McDavid give him 38 points (14-24-38) in 36 games.  If he ends up averaging over a point per game at the end of the year, how does he not end up with the Calder trophy in a walk?
  • Andrew Ference (hip), Brandon Davidson (knee), Eric Gryba (knee), Benoit Pouliot (shoulder)  and Oscar Klefbom (leg), are out for the Oilers, The Canucks are without Derek Dorsett (upper body), Alex Biega (upper body), Markus Granlund (upper body), Alex Edler (ankle), Brandon Sutter (mouth), Jannik Hansen (ribs), Luca Sbisa (upper bod), Yannick Weber (upper body), and hope (since 1970).

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