Nashville Predators vs Edmonton Oilers Preview: Two for the Taking
The Edmonton Oilers are lousy, run by one of the worst management teams in North American professional sports. Can the Predators stroll into Rexall Place and take two points tonight?
The Stats
| Nashville Predators | Edmonton Oilers | |||
| Record | 23-22-8 | 23rd | 15-32-6 | 29th |
| GF/Game | 2.45 | 21st | 2.51 | 19th |
| GA/Game | 2.87 | 21st | 3.49 | 30th |
| 5-on-5 Close SF/60 | 29.7 | 14th | 26.3 | 27th |
| 5-on-5 Close SA/60 | 27.8 | 8th | 33.6 | 27th |
| Fenwick Close | 49.70 | 17th | 44.50 | 28th |
| 5-on-5 Close Save % | .909 | 26th | .896 | 30th |
| 5-on-4 GF/60 | 6.9 | 8th | 5.4 | 21st |
| # of PP's/Gm | 3.06 | 27th | 3.51 | 7th |
| 4-on-5 GA/60 | 6.7 | 19th | 5.9 | 13th |
| # of PK's/Gm | 3.08 | 7th | 3.42 | 18th |
Edmonton Oilers
More on tonight's opponent
More on tonight's opponent
The cavalcade of incompetence continues in Edmonton, where team owner Daryl Katz penned a public letter to Oilers fans apologizing for how the team is going to miss the playoffs for the 8th straight season, but reassuring them that patience will be rewarded, as they're only in the 4th year of the 3rd rebuild since 2006.
Really.
If you think you get frustrated with the Predators sometime, take a walk in the shoes of Derek Zona over at Copper & Blue, as he responded line-by-line to Katz's pandering nonsense a few days ago.
Seriously, go do it, I'll wait.
Of course, one of the main story lines heading into tonight's game is the recent trade between Nashville & Edmonton, as the Oilers took on Matt Hendricks and his bloated, long-term contract in exchange for goalie Devan Dubnyk (who pretty much has no chance of seeing action tonight). Hendricks has one goal in four games as an Oiler so far, and it will be interesting to see how much truculence he brings against his former mates.
Nashville Predators
What do Eric Nystrom and Martin St. Louis have in common? They're the only two guys since the Great Lockout of 2004-5 to score four goals in a game, but watch their team lose. It was a frustrating conclusion to an entertaining game Friday night at Calgary, and make sure you check out LurkerTeach's comment in the recap thread for an eloquent expression of how I think we all felt afterward.
Obviously, Eric, you didn't do enough to bring the team a win. Try scoring 5 goals tonight, eh?
Meanwhile, many fans are wondering what it will take for Taylor Beck to get a chance to play. Called up to the bigs just as the Preds headed out on this road trip, he watched from the press box during games on back-to-back nights at Vancouver and Calgary.
Game time is 7:00 tonight, so make sure to come back later for the Game Thread!
