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Game 66 Preview: Edmonton Oilers at Philadelphia Flyers

Winners of two straight, Oilers head to Philadelphia to take on a Flyers team sniffing for a Wild Card spot.

By Jeff Chapman
Connor McDavid Forever
Connor McDavid Forever
Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports


Edmonton

@
flyers
24-34-7, 55 points, .846 p/g Ranks 29-22-11, 69 points,  1.11 p/g
Pacific Division - 7th Metropolitan Division - 5th
29th P/G 16th
19th ST 18th
24th S/G 12th
26th Goal 16th
5:00 PM MDT
TV - Sportsnet West
Radio - 630 CHED
Wells Fargo Center
The opposing view:  Broad Street Hockey

#ConnorsBetter

You wanna see something cool?

Connor McDavid scored a mere 22 seconds into the game.  He'd score again in overtime to help propel the Oilers to a 2-1 victory over an offensively inept Sabres squad.  Cam Talbot held water for the Oilers as he turned aside 31 of 32 Sabres shots.  The Oilers had a handful of chances that were seemingly gifted to them (Buffalo taking a too many men penalty in overtime, for example) but Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner stood on his head to keep it interesting. McDavid would bury his second of the game with just over a minute remaining for his twelfth of the year to give the Oilers two points in the standings.  Next time, Jack.  Next time.

Oilers are in notably friendly Philadelphia to try and throw a wrench into the Flyers' playoff hopes.  Let's go to the tape.

The Oilers are saying

"We let our identity get away from us for a little while...I think we've recaptured that over the last four games.  The win happens at the end of the night...so most important for our group is the input into the game.  Can we play towards a certain identity that we've preached and that we think we have to have for us to be successful?  Then we'll have a chance to keep winning games."

Source

That's Oilers head coach Todd McLellan after Edmonton's 2-1 OT victory on Tuesday in Buffalo.

I'm not sure which identity McLellan's been preaching, but scoring more than 2 goals has got to be in the cards. Although, they were nice goals.  Actually, if McDavid scores 90 goals on the year, I'm fine with that.  That can be our identity.

The opponents are saying

"We're going to fight to get back into a playoff spot...There's no quit in this team."   Source

That's Flyers forward Claude Girioux.

The Flyers are three points from a wild card berth, currently held by their cross-state rivals in Pittsburgh.

Have some of this
  • Patrick Maroon is gonna be a hit with the fans.  If he can rediscover his scoring touch, he'll be a hit with everyone.  Maroon makes his Oilers debut tonight in Philadelphia.  Maroon will sport jersey number 19, which was worn by a fan favourite up until earlier this week.
  • Cam Talbot (14-22-4 / .915 SV% / 2.60 GAA / 1 SO) will start once again for the Oilers.  Michal Neuvirth (16-7-4, .927 SV% / 2.22 GAA / 1 SO) will get the start for Philadelphia.
  • Luke Gazdic and Nikita Nikitin were called up for Tuesday's game in Buffalo, fortunately neither of them were in the lineup after warmups.  Iiro Pakarinen gets the scratch to make room for Patrick Maroon.
  • Andrew Ference (hip), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (hand), Eric Gryba (knee), Benoit Pouliot (shoulder)  and Oscar Klefbom (leg), are out for the Oilers, The Flyers are without Jakub Voracek (lower body), Jordan Weal (upper body) and Michael Del Zotto (wrist).

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