GAME THREAD: Edmonton Oilers @ San Jose Sharks

Edmonton Oilers (24-18-3), 5th, Pacific)

San Jose Sharks (22-20-4), 7th, Pacific)

14 February 2022

SAP Center

830 PM MT

TV: Sportsnet One

Radio: 630 CHED

SB Nation Opponent: Fear The Fin

The Edmonton Oilers will look to have a similar result in Jay Woodcroft’s second game behind the Oilers bench as they did in his first. Woodcroft’s first game resulted in a 3-1 victory for the Oilers over the NY Islanders. Now on the first of a back-to-back in California, can the Oilers pick up another win tonight?

THREE THINGS TO LOOK FOR

• The Oilers appear to be going with 11 forwards and 7 defencemen again tonight: Woodcroft ran 11/7 in his first game with some success, he’ll do it again tonight. There are a couple of working theories as to why the Oilers are only dressing 11 forwards and 7 defencemen. One of them is that they’re working in an extra defenceman as to not overload Evan Bouchard’s minutes. Another? There aren’t twelve forwards on the roster to help the club enough to dress. Either way, it sure looks like 11/7 tonight once again.
• Stuart Skinner is making the start tonight. Skinner’s last start was back on January 29th against the Montréal Canadiens, a 7-2 win for Skinner and the Oilers. He’ll look for a solid sixty minutes tonight, which would give him his sixth win on the season.
• Evander Kane is playing the Sharks for the first time since becoming an Oiler: Kane has put up four points in six games with the Oilers so far (2-2-4), will he put up numbers against his old club tonight?

The Oilers could put up a fast four points with a win tonight in San Jose and another tomorrow in LA. They’ll need to start with a strong effort tonight.