Pre-Game: Game #3 Kings vs. Oilers

Welp, through two games the fanbase has gone from playoff aspirations to painful depair, all within the duration of two hockey games. The fact is the Oilers are 1-1 at this point with 46 games left to go and a lot of things to tie up in order to become a respectable hockey team. Through 2 games, we saw a tale if two teams, a telling sign that this team is still learning on the job but has an immense amount of offensive talent. The offensive will win them some games, the attention to detail in the defenive zone will cost them some games. I think that's what we can realistically expect from the Oilers this season. Which one happens more, will dictate where the Oilers are in the standings at the end of the year. The Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings come to town but they have issues of their own. Kings have dropped the 1st two games of the season, losing by a combined 8-3. The defense depth is going to be tested with the Kings being without Willie Mitchell and Matt Greene due to injury. The heart of the Kings is being tested early on this season and whether or not they can handle being an upper echelon team. I expect the Kings to come out fierce in this one but I also expect the Oilers to challenge the depth of the defense of the Kings. I'm expecting attention to detail to be much, much better from the Oilers side.

Forwards Kings
- Good depth and balance to the Kings forward crew. Anze Kopitar is back in the fold after missing the first game of the season.
Defense Oilers
- Gave a slight edge to the Oilers but they need to play better than they did on Tuesday night. Kings still have Drew Doughty but the bottom end will get tested by the Oilers speed on the edges.
Goaltending Kings
- Jonathan Quick has proven himself to be a top flight goaltender in the NHL despite the Kings shaky start. On the other side is Devan Dubnyk, who gave up 6 goals in the first period against the Sharks.
Special Teams Oilers
- The slightest edge to the Oilers. Oilers have a vaunted powerplay while the Kings have a strong penalty kill. Will be a deciding matchup.
Coaching Kings
- It's difficult to go against the guy who just won a Stanley Cup in Darryl Sutter while Ralph Krueger still tries to figure out the temperature of his club.
Intangibles Oilers
- Oilers looking to right some wrongs after the debacle on Tuesday night. But on the other hand the Kings are looking for their first win of the year.

Oilers:
Hall-NugentHopkins-Eberle
Yakupov-Gagner-Hemsky
Smyth-Horcoff-Paajarvi
Hartikainen-Belanger-Petrell

Smid-Petry
N.Schultz-J.Schultz
Whitney-Potter

Dubnyk
Danis

Kings:
Brown-Kopitar-Carter
Penner-Richards-Williams
Gagne-Stoll-Lewis
King-Fraser-Nolan

Scuderi-Doughty
Martinez-Voynov
Drewiske-Muzzin

Quick
Bernier

Game Time - 7:30 PM MT @ Rexall Place on TSN