Oilers Announce Starting Goalie and Lineup for Game Against Detroit Red Wings
Moments ago, the Edmonton Oilers debuted their lineup at practice before today's road game against the Detroit Red Wings.
Calvin Pickard will be in net for the first half of back to back games, with Stuart Skinner getting tomorrow's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Pickard will be trying to bounce back from a rough first 3 starts of the season, with his save percentage at a tough .853.
Other than that, the Oilers lineup remained entirely unchanged from the game before. With the team's slow start so far this season, keeping the same lineup two games in a row has been pretty rare. It could be a sign that the coaching staff was really encouraged by their last win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, and looking to build off that effort.
The Oilers new look second line of Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson had a two point night against the Penguins and looked to be developing some chemistry together. Viktor Arvidsson has reached career highs of over 30 goals and 60 points, and if he can find a rhythm alongside a great playmaker like Leon Draisaitl, he should be able to match or surpass those career highs. Arvidsson broke out against the Penguins with his first points of the season, and will be looking to build off that.
The Oilers third line in particular has also looked great. Jeff Skinner brings a legitimate scoring threat to the bottom six, and paired with some defensive forwards like Henrique and Brown, it's allowing the Oilers to get some scoring chances without giving up too many against.
The story of last game was also the powerplay, which hopefully will continue today. The Oilers broke away from their traditional approach of using one stacked powerplay unit, and moved to two balanced units. It paid off immediately, with the second unit actually cashing in on their opportunity. It can only be a strength that the Oilers have more flexibility with their powerplay, so hopefully that trend continues.
On defence, the pairings remain the same as last game as well, with Travis Dermott continuing to sit as the team's 7th defenceman.
The puck drops in Detroit at 4:00PM MT today, with the Oilers still looking to claw back to an even record of wins and losses. From there, they can get back to their goals of finishing first in the NHL going into another long playoff run.
| POLL | ||
Do you like keeping the same lineup together as last game? | ||
| Yes, build off the win | 61 | 68.5 % |
| No, needs a mix up again | 23 | 25.8 % |
| See Results | 5 | 5.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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