GAME PREVIEW: Edmonton Oilers vs. Arizona Coyotes

Edmonton Oilers (10-4-1) vs

Arizona Coyotes (8-4-2)

05 November 2019

Rogers Place

7 PM MST

TV: Sportsnet West

Radio: 630 CHED

SB Nation Opponent: Five For Howling

LEON LEON LEON

The Edmonton Oilers yielded over fifty shots in their visit to Pittsburgh this past weekend, but a couple of perfectly timed goals from Colby Cave (!) and an overtime beauty from Leon Draisaitl. Mike Smith turned aside 51 shots en route to his most impressive win as an Oiler. The Oilers have won two in a row, they got a goal from a secondary source, and they’re headed home to face Arizona. Can the club make it three in a row?

Let’s go to the tape.

The Oilers are saying

“[Goalie Mike Smith has] got swagger, I’ll say that. It’s the way he plays. He’s engaged in the game all the time. I said in overtime there, he had a hit, a pass and a few saves. That’s like a Gordie Howe Hat Trick for a goalie almost”

Source

That’s Oilers head coach Dave Tippett on Mike Smith.

Smith played lights out on Saturday. I’ve got a couple of hang-ups when he handles the puck, but he played lights out when it mattered. 51 saves is enough saves for two games.

The Coyotes are saying

We’ve got to get the puck to Phil on the power play. That’s our No. 1 option and he hasn’t really been getting it...Basically, the game plan was to beat their pressure and get the puck to Phil, and that was a textbook goal. We love those goals.

Source

That’s Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchett on Phil Kessel’s power play prowess.

Don’t look now, but the Coyotes just shut out the Avalanche last game by a 3-0 margin. The Coyotes are getting great goaltending and they’re scoring just enough, though they’re currently ranked just 20th in goals scored per game at 2.85.

LINES

They’ll go here after morning skate.

HAVE SOME OF THIS

Want to see a goal?

• This is the good stuff right here. Colby Cave from Benning and Granlund? I’ll take that every day of the week. Granlund gets his first point of the year, Cave scores an absolute beauty, and Benning picks up a primary assist on what otherwise wasn’t a good day for him. Cave’s goal got the Oilers to overtime. Even if the game went the other way, the Oilers would have picked up a big point against a non-divisional opponent. Lucky for us, they picked up two.
• LEON: The man’s ridiculous. What an overtime goal! His goal puts him at 26 points on the season, good for second in the league. That’s good, right?
• Mike Smith had better be getting a filet on this road trip. The man stopped 51 shots in the Penguin game, which is an outrageous amount of shots. My only concern is that there were two or three opportunities for his puckhandling to go off the rails during this game. It didn’t happen that way, the Oilers picked up the W, and Smith should get his face on the front of a coin after that one. Do you keep the hot hand for today’s game, or do you roll with Koskinen?
• DESERT DOGS: Arizona looks to be making a run for it so far. Like Edmonton, they’re getting killer goaltending right now. Darcy Kuemper has put up an outrageously good .942 SV% to start the season, they’re getting points from current Coyotes’ leader Nick Schmaltz (4-8-12 in 13 GP) and Conor Garland (7-2-9 in 13 GP). They’re not blowing the doors off in the goal scoring department (20th in the league), but their power play is humming along at a 22.5% success rate.
• SICK BAY: Adam Larsson (foot), Josh Archibald (foot) and Joakim Nygard (ribs) will be out for the Oilers. The Coyotes are without Brad Richardson, who is day-to-day (upper body).