The reeling Oilers began to lose their means in two opening losses to the Canucks, who’ve improved their total sport, division standing.
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Edmonton Oilers (2-7-1) at Vancouver Canucks (8-2-1)
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When/the place: Monday, 7 p.m. Rogers Area
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TV: SN Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650
The excitement: Positive, it’s nonetheless early. Nevertheless, a playoff-style, grind-it-out, opportunistic 2-0 determination over the Dallas Stars on Saturday at Rogers Area was past encouraging. The Stars have a playoff pedigree and the Canucks are working to get again to the post-season for the primary time in 4 seasons and second time within the final 9.
“Our identification has been to squeeze and never hand over rather a lot,” mentioned Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. “While you play a high-quality group like that, it’s a must to buckle down and we did.
“I’ve to offer the blokes credit score. Day by day is a brand new day and it’s a must to earn it and we’ve got to watch out and even-keeled. That’s the signal of a great group, however there are quite a lot of video games left and we’re going to be examined much more.”
Canucks Report
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The Oilers are nonetheless looking for solutions. They had been a consensus decide to seize the Stanley Cup however have but to seize an entire sport. They lack a aggressive edge and sometimes look like going by way of the motions, which doesn’t bode effectively for head coach Jay Woodcroft.
“The psychological errors that hold costing us time and again made us chase the sport,” captain Connor McDavid mentioned following a 5-2 loss Saturday to the Nashville Predators. “It’s simply dying by a thousand cuts.”
The historical past: The Canucks opened with an 8-1 home-ice pummelling of the Oilers on Oct. 11. Three days later in Edmonton, they gained 4-3 to start out second guessing within the Alberta capital. Brock Boeser had eight photographs and a career-high, four-goal outburst within the opener, whereas J.T. Miller (1-3) and Elias Pettersson (1-3) additionally excelled. In Edmonton, Sam Lafferty snapped a 3-3 tie within the third.
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The hope: The Canucks construct on spectacular efficiency Saturday. They went 0-for-5 on the ability play, however the first unit appeared deadly with 12 photographs. There have been higher rotations and choices. Boeser had quite a few seems from the slot.
The concern: Looks like a stretch, however what if the Oilers revert to that high-octane bunch that may rating their means out of hassle?
The highest weapons: Pettersson was tied for first in NHL scoring heading into Sunday play with 20 factors (6-14), whereas Miller was tied for fourth with 16 factors (6-10) together with Hughes (4-12), who leads all blueliners.
The wounded: Canucks: Teddy Blueger (ankle), Guillaume Brisebois (concussion, LTIR). Oilers: Connor Brown (undisclosed), Mattias Janmark (shoulder), Brady Stonehouse (undisclosed, IR), Ryan Fanti (hip, IR).
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The quote: “We knew the sport was going to be a greaser and the blue traces had been going to be vital and being above your examine. It simply feels actually good to beat a group like that.” — Miller after Saturday in over Stars.
The lineup:
Mikheyev-Pettersson-Kuzmenko
Di Giuseppe-Miller-Boeser
Joshua-Suter-Garland
Hoglander-Lafferty-Beauvillier
Hughes-Hronek
Soucy-Myers
Cole-Friedman
The prediction: The Canucks do the powerful stuff within the onerous areas, drive to the online and draw penalties. They rating twice on the ability play and accumulate a 4-2 victory.
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