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Who
Edmonton Oilers (14-11-0, 3rd in North Division)
-vs-
Calgary Flames (11-11-2, 5th in North Division)
Where & When
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Rogers Place
Edmonton, AB, Canada
8:00 PM MST
Watch & Listen
TV - Sportsnet West / HNIC
Stream - Sportsnet Now
Radio - 630 CHED
SBN Counterpart: Matchsticks and Gasoline
LET’S.
GO.
The Edmonton Oilers are hoping a date with the visiting Calgary Flames tonight provides a good dose of get right after a three-game shellacking at the hands of the best team in the North Division. Lineup changes are a-coming but as of 6:30PM still nothing is set in stone — other than Mike Smith (6-2-0, 0.923%) in the home net, of course — thanks to a few lingering injuries:
Tippett confirms Smith starts tonight. Says there are two or three injury things that need to be looked before final lineup is determined.
— Reid Wilkins (@ReidWilkins) March 6, 2021
Jacob Markstrom (8-6-1, 0.909%) will go for Calgary.
Say it Ain’t So
Lagesson and Bouchard the last dmen left on the ice at optional morning skate. Nygard Turris, Ennis and P. Russell still out as well.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) March 6, 2021
It would appear that Evan Bouchard will once again miss out in favor of Kris Russell. Ditto William Lagesson, while Devin Shore looks slated to draw in for Tyler Ennis. Tippett is doing a fair bit of preferring Kris Russell (and Adam Larsson and Tyson Barrie) to Evan Bouchard and I. Cannot. Deal. The upshot here appears to be Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear retaining their places despite what appears to be a fair bit of misunderstanding how good and important they both are to Edmonton’s near- and long-term outlooks.
Rotation Shmoshmation
Mike Smith has begun his descent back to ground level over the past couple of games and Dave Tippett appears to be fully bought in. It became clear that Dave Tippett views, and treats, his two goaltenders differently when he hooked Koskinen after a three-goal period but left Smith in to battle it out. It was further driven home when Smith got the next game. Now it appears Tippett is abandoning rotation altogether. Given Smith’s SV% is still a good 10-20 points higher than it will eventually settle, he’s due for a few more bumpy ones yet. Anywhere but Calgary. Please.
Help Coming?
Much has been made of Dylan Holloway’s incredible D+1 season in Wisconsin. He added another GWA this evening to move his totals to 11-23-34 in 20 GP. His inclusion on this year’s roster seems extremely unlikely, nonetheless. But check this:
Ryan McLeod and Tyler Benson each pick up 1-3-4 and Cooper Marody snipes a Hat-Trick as Bakersfield wins their 4th straight game with a 5-3 victory over Ontario (LA).
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) March 7, 2021
Benson now has 2-7-9 in 7GP and the fleet-footed McLeod has 3-3-6 in 9GP this season
Oh, baby.
At some point it might behoove the Oilers to bring that whole line up and see if they might fare a bit better than some of the bottom six combos Dave Tippett’s thrown out there this year. Either way, it’s good to see those guys getting on a bit of a roll. Cooper Marody has 6-3-9 in 9GP, Tyler Benson has 2-7-9 in 7GP, and Ryan McLeod has 3-3-6 in 9GP to sit 1-2-3 in Condors scoring.