Connor McDavid makes his annual visit to Raleigh.
After a couple of days of practice, it appears that RBA has turned off the blender and left the lines alone. They practiced as they ended against the Penguins. The big news was that looks like TDA is headed for healthy scratch city, he’s been replaced by Chatfield on the 3rd pair and by Slavin on PP1. If the PP struggles, we’ll see how long that lasts. I’d expect Raanta in goal.
Expected to be a top Stanley Cup contender, the Oilers have struggled so far. Their 11 points puts them 30th in the league, ahead of San Jose and Chicago. Evander Kane and Zach Hyman each have 10 goals, Leon Draisaitl has 16 assists. Draisaitl, dman Evan Bouchard and McDavid are all averaging at least a point per game, Kane is just shy. The problem is defending. They only have 3 players with a positive plus/minus. Stuart Skinner has started 11 games in goal, he’s at 3.39/.873. Jack Campbell has been worse, 4.50/.873 in 5 appearances, earning him a trip to Bakersfield. Calvin Pickard made his first start of the season against the Panthers on Monday and gave up 4 goals on 32 shots. The Oilers gave up an early 2-0 lead, their 2nd straight game losing a multi-goal lead. They jump out quickly, 3rd in the league with 24 goals scored in the first period. But they’ve only scored 26 goals total across the rest of the game while allowing 47. Their PP is OK, 12th at 21.4%, but they’re 0-11 in the last 3 games. The PK is bad, tied for 27th at 72.7%
Black jerseys tonight. Bally Sports South for TV.
After a couple of days of practice, it appears that RBA has turned off the blender and left the lines alone. They practiced as they ended against the Penguins. The big news was that looks like TDA is headed for healthy scratch city, he’s been replaced by Chatfield on the 3rd pair and by Slavin on PP1. If the PP struggles, we’ll see how long that lasts. I’d expect Raanta in goal.
Expected to be a top Stanley Cup contender, the Oilers have struggled so far. Their 11 points puts them 30th in the league, ahead of San Jose and Chicago. Evander Kane and Zach Hyman each have 10 goals, Leon Draisaitl has 16 assists. Draisaitl, dman Evan Bouchard and McDavid are all averaging at least a point per game, Kane is just shy. The problem is defending. They only have 3 players with a positive plus/minus. Stuart Skinner has started 11 games in goal, he’s at 3.39/.873. Jack Campbell has been worse, 4.50/.873 in 5 appearances, earning him a trip to Bakersfield. Calvin Pickard made his first start of the season against the Panthers on Monday and gave up 4 goals on 32 shots. The Oilers gave up an early 2-0 lead, their 2nd straight game losing a multi-goal lead. They jump out quickly, 3rd in the league with 24 goals scored in the first period. But they’ve only scored 26 goals total across the rest of the game while allowing 47. Their PP is OK, 12th at 21.4%, but they’re 0-11 in the last 3 games. The PK is bad, tied for 27th at 72.7%
Black jerseys tonight. Bally Sports South for TV.
