kevin hayes

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

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 BuchnevichMika ZibanejadMats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Derek StepanRick Nash
Jimmy VeseyKevin HayesJ.T. Miller
Oscar Lindberg–Brandon PirriJesper Fast

Ryan McDonaghDan Girardi
Marc StaalBrady Skjei
Nick HoldenKevin 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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