Ottawa Senators (2-0-2) @

Edmonton Oilers (1-2-0)

Rogers Place - Edmonton, AB

8 PM MDT

TV: CBC

Radio: 630 CHED

SB Nation Opponent: Silver Seven

EDMONTON OILERS PROJECTED LINES

Patrick Maroon - Connor McDavid - Kailer Yamamoto

Milan Lucic - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Zack Kassian

Jussi Jokinen - Ryan Strome - Anton Slepyshev

Jujhar Khaira - Mark Letestu - Iiro Pakarinen

Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson

Kris Russell - Darnell Nurse

Yohann Auvitu - Eric Gryba

Cam Talbot

Laurent Brossoit

OTTAWA SENATORS PROJECTED LINES

Zack Smith - Kyle Turris - Ryan Dzingel

Bobby Ryan - Derick Brassard - Mark Stone

Tom Pyatt - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Mike Hoffman

Nate Thompson - Logan Brown - Alex Burrows

Dion Phaneuf - Chris Wideman

Mark Borowiecki - Thomas Chabot

Fredrik Claesson - Cody Ceci

Mike Condon

Craig Anderson

WELCOME BACK TO GAMEDAY

It’s been since forever (okay, Monday) since we’ve gotten together for a game. This changes today as the Ottawa Senators are in town after dropping a six pack on Calgary last night. The good news? Edmonton’s got four days of frustration pent up after being on the wrong side of a 5-2 drubbing at the hands of the Jets. The bad news? They’ll have to do it without Leon Draisaitl. More on that in a few paragraphs.

Let’s go to the tape.

The Oilers are saying

We're facing it early, which is not a surprise to me knowing how some teams and young players react to the season prior and what happens over the summer," "This is one of those segments throughout the year where we have to pull together

Source

That’s Oilers head coach Todd McLellan on his team facing some early season adversity. For whatever reason, McLellan says he’s not surprised.

NOT SURPRISED?

If I had 103 points last season, I’d sure be surprised that I’m facing adversity three games into the season. The walls aren’t melting yet, but when your second-leading scorer is out of the lineup and Winnipeg is caving you in your own barn, I’d say the temperature has gone up a degree or two.

The Senators are saying

“He's never panicked, reads the play so well...It's great to have him back there. He bails us out a ton of times. Some games when we don't have it, we give up a bunch of shots and he's always back there and always stays calm.”

Source

That’s Senators defenceman Cody Ceci on the play of goaltender Craig Anderson. Anderson shook 25 saves en route to a 6-0 shutout over Calgary last night.

Anderson powers the Senators to a shutout victory over the Flames? Nice.

Getting a likely chance at a tired Senators team tonight? Nice.

With Mike Condon? Nice.

Have some of this

• The word on the street is “eye injury” for Leon. The word “concussion” has been tossed around, but not as much.
• It’s game four, and I’m trying to keep a cool head about stuff like this, but there’s no excuse for this kind of thing happening. You know what I’m talking about, and it’s the way that the right side looks. The Eberle deal is a load of brown bananas right now. You know what? Let’s even let that one go. This week on Oilers Now (10 October, 4 minute mark of hour one) Mark Spector basically called the Eberle deal what we all knew it was when it happened (a cap dump), but let’s let this one slide. There were a handful of free agents that one could’ve signed in order to make this sort of thing less ambulance-y. Isn’t this the guy who’s supposed to be 2C anyways?
• The good part? Kailer Yamamoto will likely get a crack on the top line. This isn’t ideal by any means, but I think it’s the best of a bad situation. We can all agree that Yamamoto on the top line is a better deal than Yamamoto on the fourth line. Zack Kassian getting top six time? Sure, why not.
• BENNING SITS: Darnell Nurse will pair with Kris Russell on the second line. Matt Benning sits, while Yohann Auvitu will make his season debut. Please keep your eyes on the second and third pairings tonight. Hoping the Oilers can pop off for 5 or 6 tonight so it’ll be more of a relaxed atmosphere.
• CAPITAL GAINS: Ottawa has points in all four of their games this season (2-0-2). That’s nice, dear.
• NET GAINS: Edmonton will go with Cam Talbot in net. (1-2-0, .896 SV% / 3.42 GAA / 1 SO). Mike Condon is expected to make his season debut for the Senators.
• The Oilers will be missing defenceman Andrej Sekera (out til December/January) as he recovers from ACL surgery. Leon Draisaitl’s eye will keep him out of the lineup, and Drake Caggiula is day-to-day with an undisclosed ailment. The Senators are without defensive juggernaut Erik Karlsson until at least next week (foot), defenceman Johnny Oduya will miss tonight’s game with a lower body injury. Clarke MacArthur is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, while Colin White and Ben Harpur are out as well.