After missing the Stanley Cup playoffs 12 times in the past 13 years things are starting to look up in Edmonton. A new GM, a new head coach and apparently a newfound attitude has done wonders for the Oilers and they finally look to have a competitive team built around Connor McDavid. They’ll go for their 8th win in 11 games on Sunday as they host Joel Quenneville and the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida has started slowly–not necessarily a surprise for a team with new personnel and a new head coach. It also appears that the off season’s big free agent acquisition–goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky–is also taking some time to round into form. Florida is 4-2-4 for 12 points in the early going though they’ve lost 3 games via shootout. Bobrovsky will get the start here and he’s 3-2-3 in his first 8 starts with a 3.87 goals against average and a 0.869 save percentage. He had a tendency to start slowly during his time in Columbus so there’s nothing really to be alarmed about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Panthers are scoring goals and in the past they’ve sputtered offensively at times. They’re #8 on the team offense table with 3.40 goals per game. The problem is that they’re #28 on the goals against per game hit parade allowing 3.60 goals per contest. The power play has been middling at #17 hitting on 18.8% of man advantage opportunities. The penalty kill has been decent ranking #8 in the NHL at 84.6%. Florida is doing some things very well but need to find some balance in other phases of the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edmonton has all of a sudden become a nasty defensive team. They currently have the #4 team defense in hockey allowing 2.36 goals per game. They’re scoring 3.09 goals per game which is just #16 on the team offense table but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing–they’re playing a more disciplined and systematic brand of hockey and they’re winning with it. Special teams have been outstanding–Oilers have the #2 power play in the NHL (33.3%) and the #6 penalty kill (86.1%). Mike Smith will get the start in net here and he’s looked sharp so far this season with a 3-2-1 record along with a 2.15 goals against average and 0.925 save percentage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oilers still not getting much respect in the betting marketplace as evidenced by the NHL hockey odds on this game. Edmonton is undefeated at Rogers Place this season at 5-0-0 and are a perfect 6-0 against the Eastern Conference. Even during the ‘lean years’ they’ve had Florida’s number and are on a 19-9-2 run against the Panthers overall and a 9-4-1 run on home ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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