October 15, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

This summer was full of Alberta hockey chatter. The Edmonton Oilers doused the Calgary Flames in the playoffs. The Flames then had an unexpected major overhaul after losing Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, and Sean Monahan and replacing them with Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and MacKenzie Weegar. Both teams have reason for optimism. Both teams are expected to contend. Tensions are high between the provincial rivals.

Both teams had comeback 5-3 wins to open their seasons. The Oilers trailed the Vancouver Canucks by three goals early in the second period and came back to win on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Flames allowed the first goal to the Colorado Avalanche and scored five unanswered goals. The Avalanche tried to rally, but could only muster two more goals.

These Pacific Division titans will face off at Rogers Place on Saturday in what will be the only Battle of Alberta game in Edmonton this season. It will be one of just three matchups between these bitter rivals this season, which is disappointing to say the least. I’m sure that the fan base of Saturday’s winning team will be insufferable.

Expectations are sky high in Edmonton, but the Oilers need to be careful in Saturday’s game. This will be an emotional game. The Oilers have had trouble controlling their emotions early in games like these recently. They lost game one of the series against the Los Angeles Kings due in large part to a couple of early goals against. 

They allowed two early goals to the Canucks in their home opener on Wednesday. One was a bad giveaway by Dylan Holloway that Jack Campbell didn’t play well, and Campbell was beaten cleanly on a shot that would be expected to be stopped on most occasions moments later. A rookie and a newcomer playing the first game after signing a big contract were in on those mistakes. The Flames outshot the defending Stanley Cup Champions 14-3 in the first period of their home opener. The Flames will start strong, so the Oilers had better pull up their socks and start this game on time.

The Oilers took a ton of penalties in the preseason, many of which were taken by their best players. That trend continued on Wednesday. The Oilers took eight penalties, seven of which were from players playing on their top two lines and on their top defence pairing. The Flames went two for five on their powerplay against Colorado. The Oilers’ penalty kill went seven for eight against the Canucks, but they will be playing with fire if they continue their undisciplined play against Calgary.

The Oilers won four straight games against the Flames in the playoffs. Leon Draisaitl broke one of Wayne Gretzky’s records by putting up seventeen points in just five games in that series. The Oilers have every reason to believe that they can win this game. However, they can’t be cocky. They can’t wade their way into this game and expect to come back again. The Flames are a strong team that should have their attention.

Getting off to a quick start is important for the Oilers, especially considering they have a six-game homestand to start the season. They get the Buffalo Sabres, who are a quick young team that beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 to start their season. The Sabres are not contenders, but that could be a trap game for the Oilers. Then they get the Carolina Hurricanes, the St. Louis Blues, and the Pittsburgh Penguins to close out the homestand. Those are three elite teams. Those along with the Flames game will be good measuring stick games. 

How they fare in this homestand will tell us a lot about how this season might go for the Oilers. They played four of their first five games at home in 2017-18, the year after they made it to game seven of the second round. They lost three of those four home games, and they lost the one road game in their first five games, which totals four out their first five games. Things could get ugly in a hurry if the Oilers aren’t careful during the rest of this homestand.

The leadership group that was here in 2017-18 was asked about that season many times during this past summer. They said all the right things about learning from their past mistakes and about how hard it is to get back to the playoffs. They understand the importance of having a strong start. The odds of climbing back into the playoff race if a team isn’t in it by American Thanksgiving are low. We’re about to find out whether or not the Oilers can walk the talk. We’ll learn a lot about the leadership group of this edition of the Oilers in the next couple of weeks.

Kailer Yamamoto will draw into the lineup to make his season debut tonight. Based on the lines at the morning skate, it looks like Warren Foegele will be in the lineup as well. This will be the first test for a fully healthy Oilers team this season. Zach Hyman and Evander Kane will swap lines just like they did in the third period against the Canucks on Wednesday night. Dylan Holloway will play on the third line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as his centre. He’s not Leon Draisaitl, but that’s still a great spot for Holloway. Here are the lines from today’s skate:

Hyman – McDavid – Puljujarvi

Kane – Draisaitl – Yamamoto

Holloway – Nugent-Hopkins – Foegele

Malone – McLeod – Ryan

Nurse – Ceci

Kulak – Barrie

Murray – Bouchard

Campbell