Game Day: Leon Draisaitl rejoins Oilers for crucial Battle of Alberta

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Day 73 of the match: Calgary in Edmonton

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When the Edmonton Oilers lost their superstar forward recently Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid Injured in a row of games, the direct and obvious concern is how exactly will the team make up for its missing offense?

After all, Draisaitl won 101 points and McDavid 90 before leaving the roster. The next Edmonton forward, Ryan Nugent-Hopkinsonly 45 points accumulated, which is actually half of McDavid’s total. Zach Hyman There are 41. No other front-line attackers scored or even 25 points throughout the season.

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After 3 games, the oiler managed to score nine goals, with goals per game being only one-quarter of his previous season’s average of 3.25 gf/gp. good.

The problem is that the team collapsed on the defensive end of the sheets. They allowed four goals in a narrow home win over Seattle and then scored another four goals in a narrow family defeat. Then there was the collapse of giving up 6 in Seattle on Thursday night.

14 goals in 3 games, which is a 4.67 GAA, in stark contrast to the 2.87 GA/GP they have been acknowledging in 69 games. So much thought is that in the absence of stars, the oil could intensify defensively, maybe wins 2-1 or 3-2, or at least wins, or at least continues into overtime.

How to measure defensive swing? Is it all about the goalkeeper? Or is the team in front of them not finished the work yet?

The goal count shows that in recent games, the Oilers’ shooting volume has increased by about 14%, an average of 31 times, compared to a 27.1 rate for the established season. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Our own video analysis Hockey worship It shows that the oil has been bleeding at higher levels and dangerous shots. Through The team in 69 games won the Class 848 A-shot, with less than 12.3 per game. In the last 3 games, each has soared to 15.0, an increase of 22%.

Things got worse. Our count of the 5 most dangerous alert shots shows a height increase from less than 5.8 per game to 9.3. This increased by about 62%, almost consistent with 63% of the actual target.

Shocking results, and disappointingly, expect that at some point the crew would be expected to tighten the good ship oilers, instead there was some new leaks. This is a question of whether the top stars play.

Speaking of this, some welcome news.

Tonight’s lineup

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Leon Draisaitl has returned to the roster after missing four games, and he will play a popular sight in the oil country. He will play with his two most common circle friends Vasily Podkolzin (Together for 465 minutes at 5v5) and Viktor Arvidsson (354 minutes) He stayed except McDavid (398 minutes). It’s an amazing top line, as Drai’s 49-52-101’s excellent boxed stick card is much more than twice his ring length merge (17-27-44), reminding people of the extraordinary season of the Big Diesel season.

The second line of Nugent-Hopkins Jeff shines In recent games, Hyman was put together, and in that game they contributed to the only Edmonton goal (by Heyman). These three have generally been productive over the past few weeks. Six words to say on the bottom outside Adam Henrique. Expected Cory PerryThose who missed the morning skating would be suitable; for certain placeholders Evander Kane Given his status in the long-term injury reserve would not.

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It doesn’t look like it Mattias Ekholm The back end of the second straight game and one-eighth of the last twelve games. Ekholm had previously spent weeks dealing with a core physical injury, which could be a groin problem and regained his energy after returning, only to see his performance again after sliding. His uncertain health is a major issue.

No sign of his Swedes John Klinberg Any one. Klingberg is second only to the last after missing 10 games, but that could be wishful thinking.

Of course, Ekholm and/or Klingberg might still play tonight, just skipping the morning skateboard. In the assumption of absence, the club does have six qualified NHL defenders ready to set off. Stay on the left Jake Walman,,,,, Nurse Darnell and Brettel They are all proven veterans.

With beginners Stu Skinner Still unusable after suffering an annoying blow to the head on Wednesday, Calvin Pickard Emergency recall will start the second game in a row Olivier Rodrigue Ready to support him.

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The battle in Alberta will be the third and final cutoff season series this year. Each team won once on the other party’s ice. It was a very important game for the Flames, who got wildcards in the Chase Group, ranked 8th after St. Louis, but had 3 games in hand. They also crawled within 8 points of the Oilers and held 1 game to make tonight’s game a real “4 pointer”. Edmonton’s victory will put the flames in the rear view once and for all.

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