Monday, October 17, 2011

Pre-Game: Game #4 Oilers vs. Predators

The Oilers come into tonight's game with a 1-1-1 record, coming off a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins turned into a folk hero as he scored all three goals in a losing cause. The injuries are starting to pile up as Ales Hemsky looks to be out for 3-4 week with a shoulder injury and Darcy Hordichuk left the game early on Saturday night after tweaking a knee. Ben Eager sounds like he is close to being ready to go, he'll take the pre-game skate and I'm guessing he'll draw in. The Oilers don't have any other forwards to turn to, otherwise they'll have to dress 7 Dmen tonight. I look for Nikolai Khabibulin to get the start tonight. Nashville comes into the game with a 2-1-1 recoed, coming off of a 3-2 OT loss to the New Jersey Devils. I look for this game to be a quiet affair and should be a good test for the young Oiler forwards to gace the very stout Nashville defense.

Forwards Oilers
- The Oilers forwards will have to stay resilient tonight as they will face a lot of frusteration.
Defense Predators
- Shea Weber and Ryan Suter are 2 of the most formidable defenseman in the NHL.
Goaltending Predators
- Pekka Rinne is off to a solid start having a 2.45 GAA and a .930 S% this year.
Special Teams Predators
- Nashville prides themselves on having a strong special teams, both on the PP and PK. Weber and Suter help out immensely with that.
Coaching Predators
- Barry Trotz is the 2nd longest tenured head coach in the NHL and the only coach in Predator history. He's got his players playing his system down pat.
Intangibles Predators
- Work ethic is a mainstay of the Predators teams, the Oilers will to match and exceed it if they want to win tonight.

Oilers:
Hall-NugentHopkins-Eberle
Paajarvi-Belanger-Omark
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
Petrell-Lander-Eager

Smid Gilbert
Barker Petry
Sutton Potter

Khabibulin
Dubnyk

Predators:
Kostitsyn-Legwand-Hornqvist
Wilson-Spaling-Bergfors
Halischuk-O'Reilly-Smith
Smithson-Geoffrion-Tootoo

Suter Weber
Blum Klein
Hillen Laakso

Rinne
Lindback

Game Time - 7:30 PM MT @ Rexall Place on Sportsnet West.

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