GAME THREAD: Edmonton Oilers @ Boston Bruins

Who

Edmonton Oilers (9-2-0, 1st Pacific)

-vs-

Boston Bruins (6-4-0, 5th Atlantic)

Where & When

Thursday November 11, 2021

TD Garden

Boston, MA, USA

5:00 PM MST

Watch & Listen

TV - Sportsnet West

Stream - Sportsnet Now

Radio - 630 CHED

SBN Counterpart: Stanley Cup of Chowder

Good afternoon, everyone!

The Oilers are in Boston tonight to take on David Pastrnak, Taylor Hall, and the Boston Bruins in what should be a stern test — one the Oilers will have to pass if they want to avoid their first losing streak of the season. Mikko Koskinen (7-1-0, 0.920%) will take the net for the visiting Oilers, while Linus Ullmark (3-2-0, 0.918%) gets the start for the Bruins.

Oh Sm*th

We’re fast approaching four weeks of Mike Smith being ‘day-to-day’, and with his needing to fly back to Edmonton for another evaluation, one would imagine he’ll be day-to-day for a few weeks yet. Stuart Skinner was arguably the Oilers’ best player on Tuesday night, but don’t be surprised if Ken Holland blows his wad on a more established goaltender sooner than later if this keeps up. I wonder if being ‘hurt forever due to the natural breaking down of the human body at his age’ was among the range of outcomes Ken Holland considered when he gave Smith a two-year deal.

Turrisprudence

Theoretically, a player with the NHL body of work of a Kyle Turris would seem to be a better fit on a third line in 2021 than, say, a player with Tyler Benson’s CV. In practice, however, Kyle Turris is more washed than a chef’s hands on raw meat day, and his being moved up to cover the injured Zack Kassian on an already struggling third line makes little sense:

2-2 Over the Koekkoek’s Nest

OK so that one’s a reach. I’ll admit that. But it’s no more a reach than Dave “I don’t know what I’m doing” Tippett expecting positive impacts from a Slater Koekkoek and Tyson Barrie pairing that got absolutely chewed up by the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night:

What are we even doing here?

LFG