Game 18 preview – Edmonton Falcons visit Ottawa

The Oilers, fresh off a nice win over the Avs on Sunday, will take to the ice tonight against the Senators in Ottawa. This game marks the first time since that Penner, Cogliano, and Smid will play in Ottawa since the Oilers tried to make them Senators on a permanent basis back in July.

Wow does it look like the Oil dodged a bullet on that trade. Heatley is off to a damn good start with 19 points in 18 games, but is being outscored by Penner so far this season with 21 points of his own. Beyond Penner’s great start there is Smid who has taken a big step forward and looks to be a solid top four defenseman who could easily play in the top pair and Cogliano who has struggled a bit but has still managed 7 points this season. Right now that trade looks like it could have been very bad for the Oilers.

The good news for the Oilers today is that the Heatley trade didn’t happen. The bad news is that their already depleted lineup looks more and more like the Falcons lineup by the minute.

Tonight you can add O’Marra to the mix even though his plane lands just over an hour before puck drop. He was called up to replace Nilsson who might have a concussion. O’Marra will join Falcon teammates Reddox and Potulny in the Oilers lineup tonight. Sadly the reunion will end there as Chorney is now out with an ankle injury.

Since the Oilers injury list is nearly impossible to keep track of here is a quick cheat sheet:

• Hemsky – shoulder
• Horcoff – shoulder
• Stone – knee
• Jacques – back
• Nilsson – concussion
• Pouliot – hernia
• Souray – concussion
• Chorney – ankle

That’s eight players now out with an injury. To say the least, the cupboard is pretty bare at this point. I have no idea how Springfield is managing to ice a lineup when the Oilers have five of their players up here.

With such a thin lineup the Oilers will likely need to get a contribution from unlikely sources again tonight. It might be a little much to expect another three points from the AHL players but they can contribute in other ways. If they can all play 10 solid minutes with good defensive zone play, that will be enough for me.

As I guessed yesterday the Oilers will start Deslauriers in net tonight. This is just his third start of the season but he has been very solid for the Oilers in those starts. His record is 1-1 but he has allowed only three goals and was the victim of a Luongo shutout in his last start.

It won’t be an easy win tonight for the Oilers by any means. Hopefully they can get another solid team effort, some solid goaltending, and a little luck tonight. If they do they might come away with a couple of points.