GAME THREAD: Edmonton Oilers vs. Dallas Stars

Oilers look to keep the good times rolling after dropping a six-pack on the Avalanche

By Jeff Chapman@NewWaveOil Nov 16, 2019, 1:00pm MST

Edmonton Oilers (13-5-2) 1st, Pacific vs.

Dallas Stars (10-8-2) - 4th, Central

16 November 2019

Rogers Place

200 PM MST

TV: Sportsnet West

Radio: 630 CHED

SB Nation Opponent: Defending Big D

SIX MORE REASONS

Connor McDavid had a hat trick and three assists for the Oilers as they cruised to a 6-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up a pair of goals, and Zack Kassian had one to make it a six pack on the night. Mike Smith turned aside 31 of 33 shots from Colorado, and everything went just about as good as you could hope for.

The Oilers are 21 games into the 2019-20 NHL season. They’re first in the Pacific. Read those last two sentences again, they feel good.

Today, the Oilers host a Stars club at an oddly timed 2 PM start. The Stars had a woeful start to the season, but have gone a spicy 8-1-1 as of late.

Oiler lineup:

Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian
Neal-RNH-Archibald
Khaira-Sheahan-Russell
Granlund-Haas-Gagner

Nurse-Bear
Klefbom-Jones
Russell-Benning

*Dave Tippett had alluded to some illness running through his team.

*Koskinen (6th in NHL in GAA & save pct) starts vs Dallas.
— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) November 16, 2019

Stars expected lines in Edmonton:
Radulov-Dowling-Perry
Benn-Dickinson-Seguin
Cogliano-Faksa-Comeau
Gurianov-Pavelski-Caamano

Jim Montgomery said the Stars would skate seven defensemen during warmup, so we’ll see pairings then.

Bishop in net.
— Matthew DeFranks (@MDeFranks) November 16, 2019

THREE THINGS TO LOOK FOR

The Stars aren’t very good at scoring goals, but they’re very good at keeping them out of the net. Ben Bishop is sporting a .930 SV% right now, can the Oilers keep scoring like they did against the Avalanche?
Mikko Koskinen gets back into the net after two games of Mike Smith. Koskinen has a nearly identical SV% of Ben Bishop (.928). Can he keep the Oilers afloat in this afternoon’s game?
THE BIG GUNS: Not for nothing, but did you see Connor McDavid score three goals? Nugent-Hopkins score two? Even Zack Kassian picked one up. Everything’s better with six goals. Can the Oilers’ big guns keep putting the puck in the net this afternoon?

Let’s. Go. Oilers.