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Game Day 24: Oilers vs Leafs
This in from Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now:
“First go-round Oilers D:
Nurse-Barrie
Jones-Larsson
Bouchard-Bear
Russell”
Koskinen in starters net
And from Oilers ace play-by-play man Jack Michaels:
“Looks like pairings might switch to Jones-Larsson & Bouchard-Bear tonight. Lines remain the same, with Koskinen starting.”
My take
1. I’m one of those annoying people who cried out for years that the Oilers need more puck moving d-men. When the Oilers actually have a puck moving d-man as promising as Evan Bouchard do you think I’m going to be happy if he sits and the Oilers instead play their weakest puck moving d-man Kris Russell? No I’m not going to be happy.
2. The Oilers had their worst offensive game of the season against Toronto on Saturday. Edmonton could not even muster one true 5 Alarm scoring chance (one that will go in the net more than 33 per cent of the time on average) and they could only muster eight Grade A scoring chances (a shot that will in the net 25 per cent of the time on average). A big part of the issue was that Edmonton struggled to advance the puck quickly out of their own zone. Bouchard should help correct that.
