Cult of Hockey Game Day: Edmonton Oilers go with Mikko Koskinen again in 2nd straight road game
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Worship of the day hockey game # 5
Edmonton Oilers (4-0-0) vs Vegas Golden Knights (1-2-0)
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8:00 p.m. MT
The Edmonton Oilers 4-0 face a Vegas Golden Knights club tonight in Sin City for their first game of the season. This is a Pacific Division clash that many predicted would take place in the final week or two of the regular season to decide. This will be the third game for Edmonton in 4 nights.
Here’s what Dave Tippet will ride with, as he deals with what he described in his media earlier today as “bumps and bruises”:
The range of confirmed Oilers
Koskinen
Hyman – McDavid – Puljujarvi
Nurse – Bouchard
Nugent-Hopkins – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Keith – This
Foegele – Ryan – Kassian
Russell – Barrie
Benson – Shore – Sceviour
Stripes – Skinner (back-up), Koekkoek, Perlini, Turris.
Short shifts …
-The Oilers are tied for the top of the NHL standings with 8 points, with San Jose defeating the Leafs on Friday. Connor McDavid has a multi-point performance in the first 4 games of the season, matching Wayne Gretzky’s performance in 1983-84. # 97 leads the club with 6-5-11 in 4 games. In fact, according to Oilers playman Jack Michaels, McDavid has 47 points in his last 18 regular season games. The Oilers have won 56.9% faceoffs so far. Mikko Koskinen is on a start of 1.37 GAA and 0.959 SV%. Koskinen beat Vancouver with a 38-save effort in his only consecutive performance in 2021. Leon Draisaitl is +5, four games in. 20 campaign. Benson put in an impressive 10-26-36 in 36 AHL games last year. This will be Kris Russell’s 883rd career regular-season game in the NHL. Edmonton’s power play is 7-14 since the start of the year.
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-The Vegas Knights are 1-2-0 to start the year. They are a team hampered by injuries. Vegas will be without D Alec Martinez tonight, who is absent on a day-to-day basis. Mattias Janmark will make his season debut after some time on COVID-19 protocol. Max Pacioretty is expected to be out for 6 weeks with a broken foot. F Mark Stone is out everyday with a lower body issue (Update: Later Friday afternoon he was officially placed on IR). Alex Tuch (upper body) is absent for the longer term. G Robin Lehner is at 3.41 GAA and 0.909 SV% 3 games in the young season. He made 35 saves in a 3-1 loss to St. Louis on Wednesday. Lehner is expected to score the net for the Golden Knights on Friday.
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