Multiple KEY Oilers Return Ahead of Utah Rematch...

The Edmonton Oilers are getting some much-needed reinforcements ahead of tonight's rematch against the Utah Mammoth in Utah after suffering a 4-2 loss just a few nights ago. Welcome back to Oilers Digest. I am your host, Joseph Greco. And as I mentioned just a few seconds ago, the Oilers received a lot of positive news in the last few hours as all signs are indicating towards three Oilers returning, with Zach Hyman, Colton Dowg, and Jake Walman expected to return to the lineup tonight in their rematch game against the Utah Mammoth. Now, this news was confirmed by multiple sources indicating that all of these three players will be active tonight against the Utah Mammoth, creating some new lines and combinations for the Edmonton Oilers. As we can see here, that top line of McDavid, Draisaitl and Coles and remains the same despite the injuries. Mike Babcock has been adamant on keeping that top line together due to how much of a hot start that line has been off to specifically McDavid on a point streak here has not registered has registered a point in every single game and put Coles and who's been red hot as well that second line Kapanen, Doc Hyman so Zach Hyman is a huge addition to this lineup we're hoping he's at 100%, they did take their time bringing him back into the lineup considering that the Oilers have only suffered two losses all season long there was no rush to get Zach Hyman back into the lineup but as we see here he is returning on that second line and expected to probably take Kapanen's spot on that first power play unit. Bormentin, Michaels, Joseph on the third, and Hollander, Frederick, and Howard on the fourth. Josh Samansky is the odd man out alongside Max Jones. No surprise there. Josh Samansky's had a rough going, in my opinion, especially that last game. He took a few questionable penalties, and it's been a little bit of a storyline for Samansky very early on in the season. And Jake Walman returns alongside Ty Emberson, which I am a very big fan of. That pairing, I thought they had a good game last time those two were together, and obviously Mook has stepped in. while Walman was out, and I thought Mook and Dolan had a really, really, really tough outing against the Utah Mammoth. Other than his goal, I thought he was one of the worst players on the ice for the Oilers, but still a lot of time for the young player to blossom, and Tristan Jari will get the nod in net for the Edmonton Oilers. Some other news regarding a few other players. As we know, Dickinson was injured in practice ahead of Thursday's game against the Utah Mammoth. He's expected to return on the homestand as well. Nugent Hopkins on track to return next week against Carolina and the Toronto Maple Leafs so some encouraging news in the injury front that will really blossom the Oilers top nine combination and I guess we'll see some you know lineup changes and some activation options ahead so as we see here in that report by Gregor Doc needs to be activated from IR meaning that there are a few players that need to be shifted to IR or potentially moved to Bakersfield in a retroactive move so obviously Dickinson depending on how long his injuries could be moved to IR and another so that would indicate that Dickinson is eligible to return on Tuesday and then some other roster transactions could be made to allow the space for um Colton Doc to return to the lineup as well so some very very encouraging news obviously the Oilers have had a very very positive start to the season despite the fact that they've been riddled with injuries and again once Nugent Hopkins returns next week the Oilers will be looking at a relatively complete top nine outside of Matt Savoy. Obviously, you do hope that Dickinson and Wallman, those two guys can remain healthy considering how health has been a major question and red flag over the last few seasons for them. And again, Tristan Jari and Nett, so we're hoping he can have a good game in that regard. So quick look back at Thursday night's game against Utah Mammoth that saw the Oilers falling short. Obviously, the 4-2 loss was not ideal for the Oilers, but their first regulation loss on the season and second loss on the year. Devin Levi had a relatively decent game, only gave up three goals on a handful of shots, and McDavid continued to keep that point streak alive. I think the big key here is if you look down the depth of the lineup, there haven't been many contributions outside that top lineup with McDavid and Draisaitl, so getting Hyman back in the lineup in particular will hopefully stretch out some offense, and again, you hope Jake Walman is 100% because he does add a lot more to that blue line than Mook does. And obviously, between now and Saturday, some areas that I'm sure the Oilers focused on, and it was a major highlight in my video after the game on Thursday, and that is the fact that the Oilers need to improve their penalty kill and just their specialty teams as a whole. I believe that the Mammoth were much better in that regard, and McDavid agreed so as well. The Mammoth were 2 for 3 on the power play, and the Oilers were 0 for 2. So I think in this rematch, the Oilers are hoping to just stay out of the box and try and convert on their opportunities and just kill penalties much more effectively. and again obviously a lot of returning guys into the lineup and Tristan Jari is looking to build on that start that he had against the San Jose Sharks taking a look here is his start by start basis that first game against the Vancouver Canucks was a very very ugly outing for Tristan Jari but he did what he needed to last Saturday against the San Jose Sharks he only let in one goal on 20 shots so relatively light night I thought the defense had a solid performance against the San Jose Sharks and it was a quality start for Tristan Jari so you're hoping he can kind of build some momentum just to get in the right headspace and give the Oilers another option seeing as to how Devon Levi's been solid but if Tristan Jari can get going as well that's a real positive sign for the Edmonton Oilers and obviously he's been the much more rested goaltender in that regard as we can see here in the last four starts Devon Levi's gotten three of those four and he's had some really really impressive numbers and Tristan Jari's only gotten once so this will be his second start in the last five games again this is a very very very very telling game for Tristan Jari because if he proves to be untrustworthy against high offensive output teams like the Utah Mammoth then I don't see the Oilers turning back to Tristan Jari anytime soon especially because they don't really have that many back-to-back games very early on into the season so Devon Levi might just take full control in net and as we can see here last year's number four Jari against the Utah Mammoth a little bit concerning both games well under 900 save percentage saves below expected and not an ideal number when you look at the fact that neither outing to Tristan Jari have a positive impact on the game so you're hoping that this isn't a reoccurring situation where again you put them against high offensive heavy teams that are very good on the power play like Utah Mammoth so the Oilers have a struggling penalty kill and a goaltender who has a few question marks against this team in the past you're hoping he can kind of find his game just limit as many chances as possible like second chance opportunities make the easy saves if with Tristan Jarry obviously there's some opportunities that may be out of his control but he has struggled in my opinion that game against the Canucks making the first save and making the easy save so Tristan Jarry again those two starts last year against Utah not the prettiest so you're looking for a huge performance against the Utah Mammoth to gain confidence as a player and just bounce back from what has been a few rough starts in the early going obviously that second game against San Jose was a lot more effective but that first game is a huge huge concern if you are an Oilers fan if you're the Oilers organization or even you're just the coaching staff as well I touched on it so far in this video and I touched it in my touched on it in my last video specialty teams was a major difference on Thursday night for the between the Oilers and the Utah Mammoth as we can see here the Utah Mammoth are in the top percentile power play conversion rate one of the best power plays in the league the way that they sling the puck around and they were two for three against the Edmonton Oilers and they walked over across the blue line relatively easily and in my last video I did a breakdown showcasing the Oilers overly aggressive penalty kill so if we take a look at the Oilers specialty teams they lost that battle on Thursday and their penalty kill has been really struggling finding themselves towards the bottom of the National Hockey League so the the Oilers are hopefully going to have a bounce back game in terms of the penalty killing regard obviously Tristan Jarry needs to have a good game when shorthanded because your goaltender is the most important player when you are down a man but I broke down in that video the overly aggressive approach to the penalty kill and how it's been really hurting the Oilers in the early going this season Babcock said that they're going to stick with it and he thinks that eventually you know it's going to take some time for the players to understand but eventually they will understand the system and it will be effective let's see if they can make some short-term adjustments in a short time frame because that overly aggressive kill resulted in two goals for the Mammoth wasn't pretty they were not gapping well at the blue line and they were just over committing on the puck sometimes in their own zone resulting in guys being lost in transition at the current moment in time the Oilers find themselves second in their division and the Utah Mammoth find themselves on a three-game win streak and they will be at home the Oilers have had a relatively strong start to the season on the road I believe this is the first time in Oilers history where they are 4-0 to start the season And I believe that is something that Bob Stauffer has indicated, which is some Oilers history very early on in the season. And it's very telling to show, very impressive, I'm sorry to say, considering, again, the early show situations with injuries for this Oilers team. Now, taking a look at some keys to this matchup, the Oilers will need to limit unnecessary penalties. The Oilers found themselves in the box three times. And in my opinion, Szymanski took a bad penalty and Muka Madolin took a bad penalty. And then winning possession and clearing pucks on the penalty kill, as you can see here, this is all pretty much special. teams I don't want to repeat myself they need to win special teams battle they cannot struggle on the penalty kill like they did last game and they need to make their power play opportunities count obviously having one of their best power play guys and Zach Hyman getting to the front of the net finding himself in the crease he's going to help get some goal support and obviously as you can see at the bottom just get some support from those returning forwards hopefully Colton Dawk I do not like Colton Dawk at the center position but hopefully he can add a little bit of offense or even just some contributions on and off the puck for the Oilers in this game and again Zach Hyman is a huge addition to this lineup so let me know down below in your thoughts do you think the Oilers will win tonight's game based off of the current returning projections do you think that it's a battle of the specialty teams again or do you believe that Utah will take this game once again I said it leading up to the Thursday game I'm going to say it again this is a very tough test for everyone involved in the Oilers organization one of the best up-and-coming teams in the National Hockey League with a lot of underrated players particularly I'm a big fan of Dylan Gunther, one of the more underrated players in the NHL. So, tough tests. See if they can rebound on the penalty kill. See if Tristan Jari can have a good effective game in net for the Edmonton Oilers and see what Zach Hyman and friends can do in the return to the lineup. That's all I have for you guys in today's video. Make sure you tune in to the Oilers game tonight against the Utah Mammoth. Let's see if they can bounce back. I hope you enjoyed. Thumbs up if you enjoyed. Subscribe if you're new and I'll catch you in the next video. Toodles.