This Will Tell Us EVERYTHING About the Oilers...

These next few games for the Oilers will be very telling, and it'll show us just how legitimate of contenders the Oilers are this season as they take on three tough opponents in a homestand alongside a potential injury return for the Oilers in the next few games. Welcome back to Oilers Digest. I'm your host, Joseph Greco, and in today's video, we're going to be taking a look at the next three games for the Oilers, particularly today's game against the Minnesota Wild as we see two of the NHL's top stars, McDavid and Kaprizov, face off to open a homestand between the Oilers and the Minnesota Wild. Now, in my most recent video, I indicated and highlighted just how special and how hot of a start McDavid has had early in the season, and it is no secret, it is no surprise, he has consistently been one of the best players in the National Hockey League, 23 points to start the season for Connor McDavid, and Mike Babcock the other day highlighted the fact that he's really happy to see that plus nine for Connor McDavid indicating that he's contributing a lot five on five and he has not given much up at five on five I believe he's only been on for maybe two five on five goals against which is absolutely insane but not too far behind him is Minnesota's wild star winger Kirill Kaprizov who signed a nice contract and he is currently at 15 points in 10 games played plus six for Kirill Kaprizov he's another player who is consistent and consistently leveling up his play. And this season, we're seeing a uptick in his offense in terms of goals and shots per game. In the first four games, we saw 2.2 shots for Kirill Kaprizov, but in the last five outings for Kaprizov, he's really shown an uptick and more urgency to shoot the puck, shooting 4.4 times per game. In the last two games, five or more shots for Kirill Kaprizov. And again, I highlighted it yesterday, but Connor McDavid has been red hot for the Oilers to start the season as we take a look here points per game he's getting about two to three points in every single outing for the Oilers he's getting points at even strength points on power play he's it's almost odd when you don't see Connor McDavid get a three plus point night so taking a look at Connor McDavid tonight against the Minnesota Wild typically you see those top lines cancel one another out but Connor McDavid has just been so unstoppable that you know particularly in the last five games he's been a showstopper for the Oilers and I don't really see him slowing down anytime soon and again in that respective regard Kirill Kaprizov has his own point streak at six games as we could see here for those of you who do not follow the Minnesota Wild too closely six straight games with a point for Kirill Kaprizov he's been as I mentioned really up up picking those shots per game and as a result his goal total early in the season is greater than it ever has been before as you can see here Kirill Kaprizov has becoming the sixth active player to reach 10 goals in nine games or fewer joining some elite goal scoring company in Austin Matthews Alex Ovechkin David Pastrnak Nikita Kucherov and Sidney Crosby so again obviously a historic start for Kirill Kaprizov in his own regard so if you're the Oilers you're looking to try and contain Kirill Kaprizov as much as you can in this game and try and have your top line match up well against that Minnesota Wild top line obviously the Oilers do have that last change because they're at home meaning they get to dictate the matchups and what is going to be a very tough test for the Oilers and their depth because there are going to be times where they're going to have to slow down and shut down Kaprizov again he's shooting more he's scoring a lot more early in the season and obviously he's got Boldy as well and you got Quinn Hughes on the back end so very very impressive team the Minnesota Wild in net they got Jesper Wallstedt so they've got pieces in all categories do the Minnesota Wild and it is going to be again a very tough test for the Oilers but Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, those two head-to-head is probably the biggest thing to watch in today's game. Two of the NHL's very best going head-to-head and two of the guys that have had historic starts in their own respective regards and it's going to be fun to watch needless to say and the biggest storyline again I keep I feel like I've said this the last few games against the Utah Mammoth and it's going to be the specialty team so heading into the games against the Utah Mammoth i really indicated the fact that Utah is very successful in the power play and the Oilers are gonna have to stay out of the box and when those times do come they have to kill the penalties and thursday the first matchup against the Utah Mammoth when they were at home they did a very bad job staying out of the box they did not kill effectively and that was the difference in the game but saturday the most recent game when they had that rematch in Utah it was all Oilers they had a one-sided victory against the Utah Mammoth in a bounce back game and you hope that they can continue to build momentum but in saying that the Minnesota Wild find themselves top five in both the power play and the penalty kill so second best power play in the National Hockey League and fourth best penalty kill in the NHL again top five in both categories you're talking about one of the best power play units in the National Hockey League again Kaprizov, Hughes, Boldy, Eriksson Ek a lot of talent on that power play and again the penalty to kill solid goaltending in net, solid defensive corps bottom six with the Foligno brothers very physical very tough to play against team and you know the Oilers in their in terms of specialty teams have been kind of disappointing to start the season obviously still finding themselves top eight top seven in the power play but finding themselves towards the bottom 10 to 15 in in the league when it comes to penalty killing so the Oilers are really gonna have to maybe try and maintain better shape and better form in the penalty kill i indicated in that first game against Utah how the overly aggressive penalty kill has came back to haunt them very early in the season and this is not a team that you want to be overly aggressive against and mess up so i'm looking at the Oilers to just stay calm cool and composed in their own zone in tonight's game and just again stay out of the box i mean obviously there's going to be calls against you but you don't want to be taking any costly penalties or any penalties that could be avoided so keep your emotions well in check and don't take any you know foolish penalties against the second best power play in the National Hockey League moving forward obviously at the at this time of recording we do not know who the starter is I fully project and expect Devon Levi to get the start if we look at the history here it seems to be for every one start Jari gets Devon Levi will get the next two and tough test for Devon Levi again he had a tough offensive team against the Utah Mammoth and he's going to face off against yet another offensive heavy team in the Minnesota Wild so back-to-back tough games for Devon Levi it's really going to show us where he sits and again if Tristan Jari gets the nod same aspect as well he had a good performance against the Mammoth on Saturday but Minnesota Wild another very tough team to play against again top to bottom good skill good offensive threats physical tough to play against their defensive core is very effective good job breaking out the puck out of their own zone, limiting the shots on their goaltending. Jesper Wallstedt, one of the best goalies in the National Hockey League, in my opinion, a guy who could be in an Oilers uniform if things played out differently in another universe. But one thing that I am certainly looking at is just kind of getting a reset at home and kicking off the homestand successfully. Again, Minnesota Wild, a tough team. If you beat them, you're gaining a whole lot of momentum before you face the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Oilers are looking for their second win at home they only have one win at home this season they a lot all their wins pretty much come on the road and you want to kick off a homestand with a win you don't want to lose too many times at home early in the season just because then you feel like you're always trying to chase chase chase that momentum at home so you don't want to let too many opponents especially that are you know in the Western Conference come to your barn too often and just take it to you and it is a little bit of an issue that has haunted the Oilers in the past in terms of just not stringing together wins against teams that they should. And, you know, a lot has been said as we look at the standings. The Oilers find themselves second in the Pacific. A lot has been said about the level of opponents for the Oilers early in the season. And I believe Jason Greger said it. I'm going to say it as well. Good teams beat weak opponents. So obviously they've had two games against the Canucks, games against Seattle, who actually finds themselves third in the Pacific. Anaheim struggling. So you're looking at a lot of teams that are kind of out of the playoffs for the Oilers that they have faced off against. This is, again, really the only tough, tough, tough test that they've had. They're right in the mix with Utah. So again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but three straight games against tough opponents. It's really going to tell us a whole lot about the Oilers, where they are defensively, where they are offensively, where the goaltending is at. A lot of questions will be answered in today's game. And at the end of the day, again, you want to win the games you're supposed to, but you also want to go in there and be competitive in the games that you're facing off against opponents that are, you know, the same points as you. So taking a look at the history, though, last year was not the best year against the Minnesota Wild for the Edmonton Oilers. They got swept 3-0 with two relatively one-sided victories. They lost 1-0 in the first game, but then a 5-2 loss and a 7-3 loss, and they lost both times at home. So you're looking to try and bounce back from the misfortunes of last season against a tough team, trying to get a win at home. their second on in on the season and Connor McDavid is a player who has had relatively decent success against the Wild he's someone who consistently puts up points against this team and again you want to continue building momentum but you do also want to see those bottom six guys contribute to a degree where you feel comfortable and confident obviously with potential returns coming in the next few nights and games such as Nugent Hopkins who joined practice this the other day let me make this a little bigger here ryan Nugent Hopkins returning at some point in these next three games as expected he does not really advertise to return tonight more so seeming towards a thursday or saturday return either against carolina or Toronto but yesterday at practice he was rotating in on that second line between Kapanen and Hyman which makes you really wonder in these next few games there's going to be a lot of guys sort of fighting for their lineup spot for when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returns some guys who i think are going to have to really showcase their value is I really don't know if Max Jones is still up here I don't think he's going to be playing but Hollander Howard Foreman I think those are the three guys who are really going to have to showcase their value and worth I'm looking at Trent Frederick to continue building that momentum from his last game out so that is the player to watch in the next few days or situation to watch in the next coming days obviously when will Ryan Nugent Hopkins return to the lineup as the Oilers look to get healthier Dickinson is another player who is expected to return at some point in this homestand so the Oilers are looking to get their one two and three centermen back into the lineup hopefully before Saturday's game or on Saturday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs three offensive heavy teams coming into Edmonton this week we'll see how it all plays out that's all I have for you guys in today's update so make sure if you enjoyed the video subscribe if you're new give the video a thumbs up and I'll catch you in the next video toodles