GAME PREVIEW: Edmonton Oilers vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Edmonton Oilers (6-4-1)

Chicago Blackhawks (6-4-3)

Rogers Place

7 PM MST

TV: Sportsnet West

Radio: 630 CHED

SB Nation Opponent: Second City Hockey

The Oilers lost a completely winnable game to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. If you’ve watched the team for the past dozen or so years, reading this would not be a surprise. This one felt completely winnable, and the Oilers let it slip through the cracks. Edmonton held the lead on three separate occasions only to have the Wild tie it up. Minnesota would make it 3-3 in the second period on a power play goal from Eric Staal. Mikael Granlund would put Minnesota up permanently with another PPG with six minutes remaining in the third. This one slipped away.

The Oilers will try to right the ship with a visit from Chicago this evening. Can the Oilers get back on the right track with a win at home?

Let’s go to the tape.

The Oilers are saying

“It was just a side muscle, oblique I guess you would call it. I feel good though...I feel 100 percent...”

Source

That’s Ty Rattie on his injury status.

Rattie’s muscle injury has kept him on the sideline since October 18th. If he is ready, he’ll almost certainly be on the top line with Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

The Blackhawks are saying

“I thought we were pretty good for 35 minutes there. The last five minutes of the second there, we lost a little momentum in the game, but I thought we were playing how we wanted to play and then tough to watch the third period.”

Source

That’s Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville after his club’s 4-2 loss to the Canucks last night.

The Oilers get another opportunity to face a club that is on the tail end of a back-to-back. They can’t let what happened to them versus Minnesota happen again tonight.

HAVE SOME OF THIS

• PULJUJARVI: We’re getting to the point of absurdity here with Jesse Puljujarvi on the sidelines. Your fourth overall pick from the 2016 NHL Draft is healthy and your right wing depth is caca. Play him or put him in Bakersfield. This is getting ridiculous. If Drake Caggiula doesn’t get a game in the pressbox for blowing coverage on a goal last game, you can take all of McLellan’s “accountability” talk and throw it out the window.
• MORE ACCOUNTABILITY: Ryan Strome has zero points in eleven games played so far ths year.
• THE GOOD KIND OF STREAK: Alex Chiasson has four goals in six games so far this year. He’s putting them in the net at a rate of 2 goals per 3 shots, so enjoy that ride.
• NET GAINS: Cam Ward (3-1-3, .889 SV% / 3.41 GAA) will go for the Blackhawks. Mikko Koskinen will play in his second game of the year. (1-0-0, .889 SV% / 3.05 GAA)
• SICK BAY: Andrej Sekera (ankle) is out for the Oilers. Ty Rattie is questionable for today. For the Blackhawks, Patrick Kane was out yesterday with an illness and is questionable for today. Connor Murphy (back) is out for today.
• LINES: Look for updated lines after morning skate.