NHL Hockey: Edmonton Oilers at Chicago Blackhawks

By BetOnline October 13, 2019

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The hottest team in the NHL tries to maintain their momentum as the scorching Edmonton Oilers travel to the United Center to take on the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago is 0-2-1 on the season which has seen them deal with international travel and long layoffs between games.

Dave Tippett’s short reign as head coach has been a resounding success. What happens when you give Connor McDavid aka ‘the best hockey player on the planet’ a real coach and a talented supporting cast? You’re looking at it. McDavid could score 100 goals a season but he’s at his best when he’s getting his teammates involved. ‘McJesus’ has 4 goals and 8 assists to date and he’s had plenty of help. Leon Draisaitl is one point behind McDavid with 4 goals and 7 assists.

The biggest surprise has been the rebirth of veteran goal scorer James ‘The Real Deal’ Neal. After years of being a lock for 20+ goals per season, Neal had a miserable campaign in Calgary last year scoring only 7 goals in 63 games. The Flames sent him to Edmonton in exchange for Milan Lucic, who has yet to hit the scoresheet in Calgary. All Neal has done is score 7 goals in the first 4 games of the season breaking the all time franchise record in the process. Some franchise records are meaningless, but when the guy who scored 6 goals in his first four games wore #99 and was named ‘Wayne Gretzky’ it’s pretty impressive. Now the ‘Neal for Lucic’ deal is looking like it could end up among the all time one sided trades in NHL history. Neal has done most of his damage on the power play along with McDavid, Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Goaltender Mike Smith is also starting to round into form for Edmonton. Another Flames castoff, Smith is 3-0-0 with a 2.67 goals against average. The same can’t be said for Chicago’s Corey Crawford who is 0-2-0 with a 4.63 goals against average. Both starters are projected to go on Monday.

Crawford and his teammates could be having trouble rounding into form due to their strange schedule this season. They opened the campaign playing in the Czech Republic, losing 4-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers in Prague. They had a week off but have played only twice since, losing a pair of games by one goal. Including today’s game, they have 6 of their next 7 games at the United Center. That should help, but this is a bad matchup for them. Chicago’s offense should be very potent this year though Kane, Toews and particularly Alex DeBrincat have looked listless in the early going. Andrew Shaw has 2 goals–the only member of the team with multiple goals this season.

Not sure I want to get in front of Edmonton right now. If they keep playing capable defense their offense is looking borderline unstoppable. Oilers win this one to continue their streak. Right now they’re the better team and we’re getting them at plus money.