After last night’s dismantling of the Calgary Flames, the Rangers travel to Edmonton to complete two sweeps. A win tonight in Edmonton would sweep the series against the Oilers, and also sweep the Alberta trip. The Oilers are not as bad as the Flames, as they have some serious offensive talent in their top-nine. That said, they lack defensive depth, and are 2-4-1 after their hot 7-1-0 start.
For the Rangers, they will look to build on the win last night, which came after a disheartening loss to the Canucks. A strong win against a potentially deadly offense represents another step in the right direction for a team that has proven to be dominant thus far this season. But to do that, they need to ensure they stop playing down to their opponents.
Oilers Systems
Todd McLellan had his Oilers mostly running an aggressive 2-1-2 forecheck, mixing in some 1-2-2 depending on game situation. In the defensive zone schemes they overload the boards and play zone defense when the puck is at the points or down low. The power play is a 1-3-1 and their penalty kill formations are a hybrid (depends on puck location/opposition setup).
Oilers Lines
Milan Lucic-Connor McDavid-Jordan Eberle
Benoit Poiliot-Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Zack Kassian
Patrick Maroon-Leon Draisaitl-Jesse Puljujarvi
Anton Lander-Mark Letestu-Tyler Pitlick
Oscar Klefbom-Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera-Kris Russell
Darnell Nurse-Matthew Benning
PP1: McDavid–Eberle-Draisaitl-Lucic-Klefbom
PP2: Maroon-RNH-Letestu-Pouliot-Sekera
Cam Talbot gets the start.
Rangers Lines:
Pavel Buchnevich–Mika Zibanejad–Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Derek Stepan–Rick Nash
Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–J.T. Miller
Oscar Lindberg–Brandon Pirri–Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Brady Skjei
Nick Holden–Kevin Klein
PP1: DJ ZBad-Miller-Pirri-Zucc-McDonagh
PP2: Nash-Stepan-Vesey-Hayes-Girardi
Antti Raanta gets the start.
Injuries/Scratches: Josh Jooris (shoulder), Adam Clendening (healthy), Chris Kreider (upper body)
Crazy Prediction: McJesus doesn’t score.
Game time is 9:30pm. Gifs are on @blueseatblogs (maybe, it’s a late game). Be sure to follow our snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!
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