Both Sides On The Battle Of Alberta
Game highlights are below.
from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
With the trade deadline fast approaching, the Eastern Conference scout arrived at the Saddledome Monday with explicit instructions.
“I’m trying to figure if Edmonton is a buyer or a seller.”
Aren’t we all, pal. Aren’t we all.
On a night where the Oilers hung around the periphery of a 3-1 loss in Calgary, Edmonton lost another two points to the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific and now stand firmly outside the playoff race out West.
They’ve got injuries, they’ve got good players playing poorly — Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl were both horrendous on Monday — and their power play is ranked 23rd in the NHL since Dec. 5. And now they’ve got questions about how they’re going to make up ground in the West, with a bunch of players playing above their pay grade due to injuries keeping Tyson Barrie, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jesse Puljujarvi, Evan Bouchard and Zack Kassian out of the lineup.
“You can't expect Brad Malone to come in here and score three goals tonight, right?” said Leon Draisaitl, shouldering the blame on a night when even one power-play goal in four fruitless opportunities could have meant a point in the standings.
continued
from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,...
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