Pre-Game Report: Edmonton Oilers vs Dallas Stars

Pre-Game Report: Edmonton Oilers vs Dallas Stars

Hello Oilers fans, Austin here and welcome to today’s pregame report between the Oilers and the Dallas Stars. The Oilers finally made it home after that grueling seven games in 12-day road trip that they were just on just finished against Florida with a 6-3 win. They managed to get home, sleep in their own beds for a couple of nights, couple days off, and now they’re back at it tonight in the only game on the NHL schedule. And even though the Oilers had a couple days off, I also took a couple days off. I hope you’ve all been doing well. I do apologize for no uploads over the last two days. I think it was just good for all of us to just kind of take a break from hockey and also feel good about that win against Florida. But that win against Florida two nights ago or three nights ago uh will not matter if this team comes out and looks lethargic against Dallas. You have to find a way to make sure that you are still playing good, that you are building your game and that you are building from that. The game against Washington, Tampa, and then Florida, that’s three games in a row. I’ve liked Edmonton’s effort. They only have one win to show for in those three games, but if they keep playing like they have, the wins are going to start coming in in probably large waves here. So, let’s see if the Oilers can get the job done against a Miko Rantin list Dallas Stars. Yes, Miko Rantin is not in the lineup tonight. He will be serving an automatic oneame suspension. Uh, I did not realize that the league had this rule. If you have two fiveminute major game misconduct penalties in a 41game span, you get an automatic oneame suspension. And Migo Rantin had two games in a row where he hit a guy from behind, was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct. So Rantin, he has to survey one game automatic suspension because if the automatic suspension was not in the rule book, uh George Peros would be looking at those hits and being like, you know what, I like this guy. He he plays really strong hockey and I’m not going to do anything about it because Department of Player safety is the biggest joke in the National Hockey League. So if you enjoyed today’s pregame report, make sure to hit that like button. Make sure to subscribe if you’re not yet subscribed. No live stream tonight. I will not be doing a live stream tonight. I may do a stream on Saturday for the game against Seattle because the Oilers, they played tonight and then they have three days off and then they play Seattle on Saturday before starting a five-game home stand. So for Edmonton, it’s one game at home, then you’re back on the road, but you’re not really like traveling a whole bunch. Seattle’s not a super far flight. So I think the boys are going to be just fine. Let’s see how the lineups stack up tonight for the Edmonton Oilers. Now this is just a projection. I don’t imagine too much is going to change. There was word that Njan Hopkins may be available for tonight, but Chris Knobblock uh not too long ago before I hit the record button on this video stated that Nan Hopkins will not play. He is aiming for Saturday against Seattle. No Wallman tonight, no Phil, no Lazar. Uh so the Oilers are still dealing with the injuries up front and then of course Walman on the back end. Top line looks to be Seavoy McDavid and Rosik which they continue to play great. Matthew Seavoy may have been Edmonton’s best player against the Florida Panthers and the only point that he got was scoring an empty net goal. So for Matthew Seavoy though, we know that his style of game is really starting to round in formation. And Chris Knobblock trusts Seavoy in defensive situations. He trusts them on the penalty kill, trusts them to defend a lead with the net empty uh when the other team’s pressing like Florida was. Matthew Seavoy, the offense is going to arrive. I like I like his speed. I like how quickly he’s able to get in on defenders and and you know cut off angles and and really he forces a lot of turnovers. He does a lot of good things on the ice. Matthew Seavoy player to watch tonight. Not the player to watch, but a player to watch. Rosik of course continues to play very strong hockey. He had two goals against the Florida Panthers. Probably could have had three or four if he didn’t fan on a couple great opportunities from setups. So we’ll see how they do tonight. On the second line, you have Pud Coulson, Dry Cidle, and Mapani. Now, Pod Coulson scored a beautiful goal right through the shoulder, right by the head of Sergey Babski. Uh, Pud Coulson has a wicked shot. I talked about him extensively during the summer and during preseason if he can just shoot the puck more. I want Bud Coulson to use his shot because he has a great shot, very underrated shot in my opinion. If he shot it at a much higher frequency than what he does, he could be a 20 25 goal scorer, right? Not saying that he would be, but he definitely could be. I’d like to see Pod Kohl’s and start ripping the puck more. Leon Dryidle, obviously he can shoot the puck or defer to his linemates. Andrew Majapani, do not like him on the second line. I find that he was kind of one of the only players that seemed not really not really invested in that Florida game. You never really noticed what Mapani was doing, which I guess can be a good thing if you’re not noticing anything good or bad. I would prefer to see someone else up on that second line, maybe Zach Heyman, but we’ll have to see how Knoblock rolls his lines tonight. Third line, you had Frederick with Henrik and Hyman. Uh Frederick has been much more engaged. Hyman since he entered the lineup. Uh the whole team just as in general has has looked more emotional, more physical, and that’s a good sign. Zack Heyman, he definitely pulls on the rope and he forces everyone to pull on it with him. He is a workhorse. I don’t mind him on the third line right now. He I find he’s been helping Frederick’s game a lot. And Adam Henrik, he’s just the responsible two-way forward on that line. Not expecting a whole lot of offense from Henrik, but we’ll see how they do tonight. And on the fourth line, Connor Clattenberg looks to be playing in his second ever NHL game. He had one penalty against Florida and he had a twoon-one as well. I forget who he was with where he had the two-on-one and he shot decided to shoot the puck, which I don’t blame him. Uh he’s with Tomas and Matias Yanmark. I liked Clattenberg’s game. He did not play much time on ice. I think it was like five and a half minutes, so not super noticeable, but he wasn’t doing anything poor on the ice. and we’ll see if he gets a couple extra shifts tonight. And if he does, what is he going to do with those shifts? Tomasek, I’ve liked his game a lot lately. Matias Yanmark, I don’t know, man. He’s just kind of here on defense. Echome with Bousard. They were both plus five the other night against the Panthers. They each had three points, and that’s what you expect from your top pairing uh defensive group here. Eko and Bousard played great, but they have to follow that up with another really good game in a row. You can’t just have one good game and then revert into bad habits the next game. We’re looking for consistency, not just from them, but from the entire group here. Are they able to build on that game against Florida, the game against Tampa, and the game against Washington? I certainly hope so. If they revert back to the Oilers of earlier this season tonight, big problems here. Nurse with Regula, uh, I find Regula has looked very, very shaky lately. Have not been a big fan of his game. He earned his spot on this roster during preseason and the first two games of the regular season. I thought he played great. He took those two big hits from Evander Kane. And since Regula has come back into the lineup from that uh likely concussion that he was dealing with, uh Regula just hasn’t looked very comfortable out there. And he is more of a defensive defenseman. He’s not going to put up a lot of points. Uh he is big, but he’s not using his size to cut angles off. He’s not really good with his stick right now. And he’s getting caught out of position a lot. So I’m looking for just a less chaotic game from Alec Regula. Darnell Nurse, I thought he’s played some pretty good hockey over the last few games here. So hopefully he can keep that up. Then on the third pair, you have Koulak with Emerson. Kulak has been the definition of a tire fire this season. No offense to Brett Koulak. I love him. One of my favorite players on the team. This season has not really been very good for him. Ty Emerson. He’s had some ups and downs throughout the year, but I’ve really liked his game as of late. I thought he was fantastic against the Panthers. So hopefully they can keep that strong play going. And in goal tonight, you got Stewart Skinner. Stew is getting the start. We need dark stew tonight if the Oilers going to have a chance to win. I know Dallas is going to be without Miko Rantin, but the Dallas Stars have a lot of weapons up front, including Jason Robertson, who has 11 points in his last five games and nine goals. Robertson has nine goals in his last five games. That is absolutely wild. The Oilers uh defense, they have a lot of work cut out for them tonight against the Stars. Now, when you take a look at the stats for both teams, the Dallas Stars, they are 135 and four on the season, which is fantastic. They’re second in the central and they’re uh well they’re actually pretty far back from the Colorado Avalanche because the ABS only have one regulation loss this season. Colorado is an absolute wagon. Dallas, they’ve been winning games, but there is signs that Dallas may not be as good as their record is implying. If you’re the Oilers, maybe you can take advantage of this. I will talk about it. Dallas’s power play ranked second in the league. Their penalty kill ranks 25th. Goals per game rank seventh. Goals against per game ranks seventh, which is very good. They get very good goalending from Oddinger and Casey Desmith. Now, the expected goals percentage, this is what I’m looking at here. They rank 21st in the league at 49.08% and their shots for percentage ranks 26th at 47.45%. So, Dallas, they are winning hockey games. They score goals. Uh they don’t give up a whole lot, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve been driving the play. It doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve their wins, Stars fans. That’s not what I’m saying here. What I’m saying is I would be very weary of how Dallas um plays in the future and I I would be concerned about the long-term sustainability of what Dallas has done to start the year. They’re riding a pretty high PDO right now. That shooting percentage plus save percentage and there are signs that they could start regressing and hopefully the Oilers maybe the start of the regression for Dallas can start tonight. Maybe Emmonton can capitalize on some opportunities, score a few goals because like I mentioned against the Washington game with their stats, Washington had some of the best analytics in the league, but they just weren’t able to score goals. And I was like, watch out for Washington. They’re due to kind of explode offensively. They ended up scoring seven goals. Yes, two of them were in the empty net, but that’s why we kind of look at the analytics. Sometimes they can paint a different picture than what the actual just raw data is showing for Dallas. Not as good good as a play driver as you know in years past. They are finding ways to win games and that’s something the Oilers have not been able to do. So, they’re still a good team. Not taking anything away from the Dallas Stars so far. Uh, but Dallas, they look like they’re still trying to find their way at five on five and they are getting outshot pretty frequently this season. Their save percentage at five on five ranks fourth best in the league, 92.51% or a 925. That has been one of the big reasons why the Stars have been able to win the games that they are. So, for the Oilers, they’ve had Jake’s number in the past. I think it’s Oddinger who’s getting the start. I don’t think they’re going to give it to Des Smith. If it is Oddinger, the Oilers have had his number in the past, especially in the playoffs last two years. Maybe there’s like a mental thing with that, too. The Oilers can take advantage of it. For the Oilers now, they are 109 and five on the year. They are 44-2 in their last 10. The Oilers ranked sixth place in the Pacific. And a win tonight would, I believe, put them in a playoff spot. But with all the games in hand that the teams ahead of them have, uh, by points percentage, the Oilers will be out of a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, which is on Thursday. Um, and we all know the statistics. Teams that are not in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, only one team has won the Stanley Cup since 1999 when they were not in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, and that was the St. Louis Blues in 2019. They were the only team to win the Stanley Cup when not in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving. in the Oilers. They’re supposed to be Stanley Cup contenders. They have not played like Stanley Cup contenders this season. Uh their five on-5 play has not been very good. Their defensively has not been good. Their goalending has not been good. But there are signs that their game is turning around here. Their power play ranks third in the NHL. Their penalty kill ranks 13th. Goals per game, they rank 16th. Goals against per game, they ranked 28th, which is not good at all. That is horrible. Expected goals percentage of five on five, absolutely abysmal. They ranked 23rd. shots, four percentage, not too bad. They rank 11th and teams say percentage at five on five ranks 32nd. However, in saying all that, right, it sounds like I’m being kind of harsh on Mton in the goalending and you know their five on five play. They’ve gotten the goalending two games in a row. Calvin Pickard was stellar against Tampa. Steuart Skinner was pretty darn good against Florida. Just need to work on his rebound control there. And we got Emochi in the background. Hello Mochi. How are you doing? She’s coming to say hi while I’m recording. That’s very nice. The Oilers, as long as they get some stops, that will probably give the forward group a little bit of a boost in morale. And uh like I said, the Oilers, they’re 70 and1 when they get a 900 plus save percentage this season. That’s all we’re asking for. Stu, we’re not asking for a 920 or a 930 or a shutout tonight. We’re just asking for 900 uh on the dot and you give your team a chance to win. That’s that’s the key here. Now, when it comes to the keys to game, the Edmonton Oilers, number one, build from the road trip. Yes, try and build some confidence from that road trip. You win 500 on the toughest stretch of the entire season. What will likely be the toughest stretch of the whole season for the group? Like their effort on the road those last three games. They grinded a win out against the Panthers. Build from that. You’re on home ice now. Feed off the crowd from from, you know, Rogers Arena or Rogers play. Sorry, Rogers Arena. Oh my god. You can tell I haven’t done a video in a couple days. Number two, they’re going to need some timely saves from Stuart Skinner if they want to have a chance to win. It’s not about how many goals he gives up, it’s when the goals are being scored. As long as he’s making the timely saves, keeping his team in it, uh, that will go a long way in their success tonight. Number three, get that power play up. I found their power play has kind of struggled the last few games here. Need the Oilers to find a way to start digging in on the power play. The power play could have been a big difference maker against Florida. They could have really made a uh, you know, extended the lead at one point on the power play against the Panthers and they just didn’t. I would like to see some Killer Instinct on the power play. Now, when it comes to the Dallas Stars, they’re going to have to be by committee tonight. They’re going to have to win and play by committee without Miko Rantin. Uh the Dallas Stars as a whole, they have a lot of really good pieces, a lot of really good players. You don’t need Rantin to win a hockey game, but Rantin certainly helps when he is in the lineup. Tonight, it has to be by committee. Number two, they have to start driving the play at five on five. They can’t keep getting outshot every single night or almost every single night and expect to win consistently. Uh for the Dallas Stars, if you can take advantage of Edmonton’s not very good advanced metrics here, their five on five play, their possession, um they’re going to have success. And number three, test Stew early. If you can make Steuart Skinner uncomfortable early, you will have a lot of success. Just look at that game against Washington. Stu gave up three goals in the first period. The Oilers just weren’t able to catch up in time, even though they had that great third period push to try and tie the thing up. If you get on to Stu early, you’re in the driver’s seat. And the Oilers playing from behind have not been very good at finding ways to come back. Not the way that we’ve been used to seeing. Now, the players to watch here for the Oilers, I’m going with Evan Buchard. Three points last game, plus five rating, plus three at five on five. Jason Robertson for the Dallas Stars, nine goals in his last five games. That’s a crazy stat to me. And game note, Evan Bousard was plus three at five on five against Florida with three assists. That’s the five on five stats. He was plus five overall, but the empty net goals, right? The Oilers are now up to 15-7 in goals, plus eight with Bousard on the ice this month at five on five. Without him, they’re down 7 to28, a minus 21. So, it just goes to show when Buchard is on the ice, good things are happening, the team is outscoring their opponent. When Bousard is not on the ice, uh the team is not having a lot of success. So, Bousard and home, they are going to be the uh keys to the game for the Oilers here. And when it comes to my score prediction, I’m feeling good. I’m feeling good about this one. Uh I’m feeling confident. I did predict the Oilers to beat Florida uh the other night on Saturday and I’m going to predict the Oilers to beat Dallas tonight. Not in overtime this time though. We’re going to go regulation and I’m going to predict a Matias Yandmark goal. He seems to find a way to score against Dallas. He scored in game five last year against the Stars. So Matias Yadmar, let’s see if he can uh get a goal tonight. Maybe it’s a nice goal. Maybe Connor Clattenberg sets him up. That would be uh it would be surprising if it happens, but you never know. I would love to see it. Thank you all so much for tuning in. I will see you all in the postgame fan reaction after the game. Kind of just going through whatever happens tonight. Hopefully, it’s an Others win. And uh let’s see if they can get the job done. Get another two points on the board before they have another three days off before the weekend. So, enjoy your night, folks. Enjoy the game. I’ll see you in the postgame fan reaction. Tell them that you love them. And as always, fight like a kid, fight like Ben. Let’s go Oilers. I’ll see you soon. Take care.

The Oilers return home after finishing their grueling 7-game road trip with a 3-3-1 record. Edmonton will be looking to win their second game in a row as they take on the Dallas Stars in the NHL’s only matchup of the night. Austin Hockey brings you the projected lineup, stats, keys to the game, players to watch and more! Keep the conversation going in the comment section below! #oilers #edmontonoilers #nhl

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