Pre-Game Report: Edmonton Oilers vs Montreal Canadiens

Pre-Game Report: Edmonton Oilers vs Montreal Canadiens

Hello Oilers fans. Bonjour Austin here with today’s pregame report for the Mton Oilers against the Montreal Canadians. A little bit of French there. A little bit of a hello for those of you who live out east in Quebec who may be going or tuning into the game. I hope you’re all doing well. I hope you all enjoyed the game last night where the Oilers defeated the Maple Leafs 6 to3 on hockey night in Canada. And if you’re a Habs fan, you probably didn’t have as much fun yesterday. Hey, you watched your team lose 5-4 to the New York Rangers after Montreal got out to a 3 to nothing lead. The Rangers came back. The Montreal Canadians have been dealing with a ton of goalending controversy. Arguably maybe even more than what the Oilers have been dealing with for this season. And it’s been a tough road in Montreal. Montbo has taken a significant step back. Jacob Dobish has taken a significant step back. And they had to bring up this new kid Fowler from the AHL. He started last night for the Montreal Canadiens. has gave up five goals on 27 shots. Fowler’s not going to be in the net. It’s either going to be Dobbish or Montbo for Montreal. So, if you’re the Oilers, you can maybe try and take advantage of that. Both teams are on the second half of a backto-back. So, there is no real advantage for either team tonight. You just got to go out there and play some hockey and see if you can get a win. For Edmonton, it’s going to be tough. Going into the Bell Center, that crowd, they are incredibly loud. I reflect on my time at the Bell Center last November, a year ago, and that was a loud building, especially for a regular season game. I can’t even imagine how loud that place is during the playoffs. Although, Rogers place was very deafening in the game four Kings game that I went to last year. So, you know, not saying that the Bell Center wouldn’t be as loud. I actually think they may be louder, but I have yet to be go to a playoff game in Montreal. In any case, in today’s pregame report, I’ll be going over the projected lineups. There is nothing official right now as of the recording of this video. There is no morning skate today because it is the second half of a backto-back and the Oilers did travel last night. So, the projected lineups likely the same as last night. If there’s any changes, we probably won’t know until closer to puck drop. I’ll go over the stats for both teams, how these two teams go up headto-head against each other. I’ll go over the keys to the game, players to watch, and the score prediction. Make sure you let me know all of your thoughts in the comments section below. Give me your player to watch, give me your score prediction. Leon Dryidle one point away from 1,000 in his career and I’m very excited. I’m very excited for the game. There’s a lot of emotions going through me when I think about Dryidle the beginning of his career to where he is right now. Dry Cidle has been my favorite player since Edmonton drafted him in 2014 to the point where I loved him the second the Oilers drafted him. I remember telling my dad and friends, “Hey, Dry Cidle, he’s going to be the guy. This this is a really really special player.” But little did I know just how special he would be. I never once believed Dry Settle would be a 50 goal scorer. I thought 70 75 points per season and I thought that would be fantastic. But Leon, he has just he’s just blossomed into one of the best players in the entire league and I couldn’t be happier and uh we all love Leon Dryettle here in oil country. So let’s get into the projected lineups here for the Oilers against the not the Leafs that is against the Habs folks. Oh my goodness. The I swear I swear OBS I got to get a different recording software. Uh, OBS man that never saves any of the changes that I make. Top line, Nan Hopkins, Conor McDavid, Zack Heyman, Conor McDavid, he’s been redhot. He has 15 points in his last five games. Oh my goodness gracious. Conor McDavid, he is starting to get hot and that is bad news for the rest of the NHL. When Conor McDavid is feeling it. He had three points last night. Nan Hopkins um even though he didn’t really contribute a whole ton on the offensive side, Nan Hopkins has been very good since he came back from injury. very happy with his play. Zack Heyman, he had another goal last night against the Leafs. So, love to see that. Love to see Winman is scoring against his former team. Second line, you have Pod Coulson with Dry Cidle and Matt Seavoy. Seavoy had a fantastic play in the neutral zone that led to Pod Goolson’s second goal of the third period last night. Yes, Pod Goolen, Podzilla, Pod Goolen, whatever you want to call him. Pod Goolson leads the team in hits this season. He’s up to nine goals and he’s starting to get into his rhythm. He’s starting to get into a groove here. And I always said if Bud Coulson shoots the puck more and gets himself into areas where he can score more goals that he could be a 20 goal scorer. And my goodness, I hope he hits 20 goals this season. I absolutely love Pod Coulson. Slow start to the year, which is very understandable considering the tragedy that he had to deal with before the season started, but Pud Coulson now that he is starting to play with a bit more confidence. Dry Cidle and Pod Coulson on the same line together. Finally, Chris Knobblock is letting some of these lines just kind of marinate a little bit. These guys are getting chemistry and Pud Coulson, he is also leading the Oilers in plus minus this season, too. So, we love that for Bud Cen. Responsible defensively, great on the for check, good physically, and now we’re starting to see some offense from him. Drive Cidle, of course, also had three points last night, three assists. He’s one point away from 1,000 in his career. Matt Seavoy, he had an assist last night. Good to see him continue to contribute on the offensive side. And Seavoy defensively, he’s always fantastic. He is so good in his own zone. Great on the penalty kill. Very happy with Matthew Seavoy’s growth so far this season. And he’s only going to be trending up here, folks. Watch for Seavoy. He is due to continue to uh explode for some offense. Now, this is where we start to get into the slightly more negative aspects of this roster. Uh the third line, you have Yanmark with Henrik and Frederick, which I thought did absolutely nothing of significance last night. Yanmark isn’t really physical. Henrik was okay. Honestly, I haven’t minded Adam Henrik’s play this season. He is a responsible two-way player. He just doesn’t have the offensive touch anymore just with his age. Father time is not very kind to some players. And Trent Frederick, I want to keep believing in this player. I can’t just assume that it’s going to be like this for eight years because it is way too small of a sample size. Someone that is into the analytics and larger sample sizes like I am, I cannot write this player off. But this season specifically has been extremely difficult to watch as an Oilers fan when it comes to Trent Frederick. But I believe in this player. I watched him in Boston. I’ve seen this player be too good to continue to play the way that he has with Edmonton. Last night he was a bit more engaged on the forche, which was good to see. He had a one scoring opportunity. I’d like to see Frederick just grind away a little bit more. If he could just get a couple points here and there, I think it would go a long way in boosting morale of the fans, but also himself. I think Frederick probably feels a lot of pressure, too. A lot of these players probably feel pressure, especially in this market. We all know how we are as fans sometimes, including myself. I love Trent Frederick. I believe in this player. I really hope he’s able to get his game going here. The team as a whole, it’s been very positive for Trent Frederick. I want to see that change for him, too. And then on the fourth leg, you have Tomasek with Lazard Majapani. though with Tomasic last night. He had a bad giveaway that led to Toronto’s I want to say their first goal or maybe it was their second goal. I can’t remember which one it was when it was an offensive turnover and then Bard stepped up at the blue line. Probably shouldn’t do that. Um Tomasek, he didn’t play a lot last night. Probably maybe plays tonight, but if he doesn’t, maybe Max Jones will come in for David Tomasek. Don’t be surprised if that is a change that does happen. I just have the feeling Chris Knobblock has not been happy with David Tomasek’s play. Curtis Lazar, he’s been pretty good. I like the way Lazar’s been playing lately. And Majapani last night, I actually thought he had a really good game. Overall, Majapani was very engaged on the forche. He was in on pucks. He was moving his feet. He was making plays, getting shots towards the net. I liked Majapani’s game. If Majapani keeps playing like that, I’d like to see him get bumped up the lineup just a little bit. Not in the top six, but I think Majapani deserves to be on the third line at minimum right now. Frederick probably probably deserves to be in the press box, but that’s a conversation for another day. On defense, you have Ekholith Bousard who played very good last night. Evan Buchard had one little gaff, but he was instrumental in creating two of Edmonton’s goals. One of them was the crazy McDavid breakaway, but it was Evan Bousard’s defensive play beforehand that led to that goal. Bousard also had another really good defensive play in the third period that led to a goal for Edmonton as well. I thought Bard defensively was fantastic against the Leafs. At home, also fantastic. Darnell Nurse and Alec Regula, they had legacy games last night. And Alec Regula specifically, he got his first career NHL assist, not first career NHL point. I made that mistake last night. I kept saying it was his first NHL point. No, it was his first NHL assist. That was my That was my bad. I was corrected on that. It was his first NHL assist. But e either way, good for Alec Regula. You could see that something was building there. And Regula had the best game that he’s had in an Oilers’s uniform. Can he follow that up? Can we find consistency here for Regula? Because if Regula plays like he did last night, we’re laughing. We are having a great time in oil country the rest of the season. Then on the third pair, you have Stashney with Emerson. I like Stashney skating. I like his puck moving ability. I like that he’s able to stay on his man in the defensive zone. He doesn’t really get caught flatfooted, which is a really good thing. Uh you need to be able to skate and keep up with the players that are forchecking against you. Stashny and Emerson, their advanced underlying metrics were not strong last night, but I think the eye test for me personally showed that Stashny and Emerson together were doing the right things, keeping things to the perimeter. They were on the ice for one goal against I think it was at the very end of the game. Uh 30 seconds left when Toronto made it 6 to3. Kind of a garbage time goal. I don’t think it was either of their fault. It is what it is. We’ll see how they do tonight. And then Stillman is up with the big club. I don’t think they’ve sent him back down yet. Pickard should be getting the start. I highly doubt Tristan Jarry gets the second start of a second half of backtoback. Calvin Pickard statistically one of the worst goalenders in the entire NHL this season. He has like an 850 save percentage and a four goals against average. All we’re looking for, all I’m looking for from Pickard here isn’t even a 900. Give us an 885. An 885 save percentage from Calvin Pickard and maybe the offense is going to be able to pick him up. We just need something. Come on Picks. We need big dick picks tonight. We saw that against Tampa a few weeks ago. Can we see it against Montreal tonight? Now, when we take a look at the stats for both teams head-to-head, Montreal this season, they are 161 and four. They are fourth place in the Atlantic Division, 54 and one in their last 10 games. Their power play ranks sixth. Very good power play for Montreal. If you’re Edmonton, stay out of the box. Penalty kill ranks 26th. Goals per game, they rank 10th. Goals against per game, though, this is where the problems start to settle in. They are 31st in goals against per game. 24th in expected goals four percentage, 21st in shots four percentage, and 31st in team save percentage at five on five. They’re not getting saves. Their advanced metrics have not been incredibly solid. And this goes back to last year. Last year, Montreal’s advanced stats were not good, but they were getting the saves. They had Dobish and Montbo who were able to steal them some games. And for Montreal, their young offense, their speed, the that young core that is growing together, um they were able to outscore a lot of their problems last year. This year, they’re able to put the puck in the net, but unfortunately, the regression from the goalending is hitting very, very hard. It does not mean that Montreal is a bad team. In fact, I would say that they are a good team, and some of the analytics are probably due in part to gripping their sticks a little bit more, probably overthinking the defensive side of the game because every mistake is ending up in the back of the net. And we are all very familiar with that in oil country when it was Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard as the tandem. Seems like every mistake was ending up in the back of the net. Now the Oilers have made a trade for Tristan Jarry. Montreal called up Fowler. I think it’s Fowler. That’s the young kid’s name, right? Yeah, it’s it’s Fowler. Uh Jacob Fowler. There we go. They called up a young kid. Montreal’s trying to figure out what they’re doing with their goalending right now. If you’re Oilers, you cannot underestimate Montreal, though. Just because their goalending hasn’t been good doesn’t mean that Montbo or Dolbish or even Fowler can’t have a fantastic game moving forward. So if you’re the Oilers, you got to find a way get shots on net, generate offense. Edmonton this season, they have the third ranked power play, 17th ranked penalty kill. It’s still over 80% which is fantastic. If Edmonton keeps it around there all season long, I am having a great great time here. Goals per game, they rank third. Goals against per game, they ranked 26th. Expected goals for percentage ranked 17th. shots four percentage ranks seventh and their team save percentage continues to rank dead last 88.33% for the Mton Oilers they are 101 and1 when they get a save percentage of 900 plus last night so close to a 900 Tristan Jarry was about 40 seconds away from having about a 926 save percentage and unfortunately that late backbreaking goal you hate to see it but Tristan Jarry still played good last night hopefully Calvin Picker can follow that up with a strong game tonight for Edmonton keys to the game here for the Oilers. Number one, test Montbo or Dobish early. I don’t know which one of the goalenders is getting the start tonight for Montreal. Whoever it is, test them early. Test them often. Try and get on Montreal as quickly as possible because if you get the lead early, then Montreal is going to go into um I wouldn’t say panic mode, but it’s a lot harder to chase the game than when you have the lead. Now, Montreal had a three nothing lead last night, but again, they’re just not able to get those saves right now. And if you’re the Oilers, if it’s a mental battle, Edmonton’s feeling good. They’ve been getting more saves as of late, even before Stu was traded. Tristan Jarry gave them saves last night. The Oilers offense is starting to click. This could be one of those games where Edmonton is feeling good and Montreal, if they get behind early, they’re going to go into a shell and then the Oilers might be able to take over the whole game. Number two, force Montreal into mistakes. Now, it kind of goes into testing the goalending early as well, but Montreal, if you do not let them attack off the rush, if you don’t let them utilize their speed through the neutral zone, if you are forcing them into mistakes, Edmonton is going to have a lot of success tonight. Number three, special teams is also key. If you’re the Oilers, do not give Montreal any easy power plays tonight. Uh Montreal’s power play is way too good. You cannot give them opportunities regularly. They will make you pay. And if the Oilers do get a power play or two themselves, they got to capitalize. They didn’t capitalize last night against Toronto. Got to find a way to capitalize if you get one tonight. For Montreal, their keys to the game here, play responsible defense. Now, I’m talking about their goalending like it’s the only problem. It is absolutely not. Defensively, the team is giving up some pretty great A chances. They’re not playing as good as they should be in front of their net minders. So, if you’re Montreal, slow the game down. Slow it down just a little bit. Play responsibly in front of your own net. Number two, get back to your game. I find Montreal and I’ I’ve been watching a decent amount of Habs games because there’s a lot of players on that team that I absolutely adore watching. Uh they have to get back to their game. They are not playing the way they were even just 3 weeks ago. Some of it’s to do with the goalending and there’s hesitation. I see that hesitation in Montreal’s game here. They’re still able to put the puck in the net, but they’re forcing things. And when they get behind, they start to become a little bit individualistic. There’s not a lot of teamwork going on. guys are trying to be the hero when you just got to get back to your game and simplify things. All right. And number three, speed kills. Montreal on paper should be the faster team. And for Edmonton, even though the Oilers are also a fast team, uh Montreal could use that speed to their advantage. Both teams are on the second half of a backto-back. Who is going to bend first, but also who may break as well? You may bend and not break, but you may bend and break. We’ll see what happens tonight. The game note here, the Mton Oilers, they are seven and three in their last 10 games versus the Montreal Canadians. Alec Regula recorded his first NHL assist in the win versus Toronto last night. My players to watch for Edmonton, I’m going with Leon Dryetttle, one point away from 1,00. I’m very excited for the game tonight. I hope he able he’s able to hit it. And then for Montreal, he is my player to watch. Lane Hudson. And nothing specifically statwise, just he’s just fun to watch. I absolutely love Lane Hudson. uh one of my favorite players in the entire NHL. He is absolutely incredible. He’s dynamic and he’s worth the price of admission. Every single night he’s on the ice. So for the Oilers, it’s going to be a lot to contain Lane Hudson. For Montreal, it’s going to be a lot to contain Leon Dry Settle tonight. And my score prediction. Score prediction here, folks. What are we going with? I’ll let you take two seconds to put your score prediction in the comments. My score prediction tonight, I’m going to predict a 5-4 Oilers win. I think we’re going to have an exciting back and forth game. game. I think both teams are going to score a bunch of goals, but I do think the Oilers ultimately come out on top in regulation. And I’m going to say Leon gets his 1,000th point. That’s not really like a bold prediction for Leon getting his 10,000th. Uh Dry Settle McDavid have been feeling very, very good as of late. Tons of points, tons of production, and I hope it continues tonight against Montreal. Habs fans, I’m excited to see all of you in the postgame fan reaction no matter what happens. I hope you enjoy the game tonight. Oilers fans in Montreal, if you’re going to the game, represent us well. be very loud in the Bell Center. Although it’ll be very difficult to be louder than ABS fans, they are passionate. And for the Oilers fans tuning in from wherever you are around the world, I hope you enjoy the game tonight as well. No live stream for me tonight, unfortunately. But I still will have the fan reaction after the game. So, I look forward to seeing a lot of you in the fan reaction no matter what happens. We’ll have lots to talk about later tonight. Hit the like button, hit subscribe if you really like today’s video, and as always, tell someone that you love them before the game. All right. Fight like a kid. Fight like Ben. Let’s go Oilers. I almost forgot what I was saying there. Take care, folks. We’ll see you later tonight.

The Oilers and Habs face each other for the final time this season, with Edmonton winning the first head to head by a score of 6-5. Leon Draisaitl is one point away from 1,000 in his career, and Connor McDavid is RED-HOT, recording 15 points in his last 5 games played. Austin has you covered with today’s Preview, including head to head stats, lineups, keys to the game, players to watch, and more! #oilers #edmontonoilers #nhl

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