Game 8 Preview: Oilers at Blue Jackets

Monday, October 28, 2024 – 7:00 ET
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Ohio (ick) – Radio: 97.1FM

Edmonton Oilers (4-4-1, 5th Pacific, 9th West)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (3-3-1, 6th Metropolitan, 13th East)

For the third straight game, the Blue Jackets will faceoff against a team coming off the second half of a back-to-back with a rest advantage. Columbus crushed Toronto 6-2 Tuesday before suffering a 3-4 overtime loss Saturday night in Nashville, while Edmonton came from behind to beat the Red Wings in OT yesterday.

Player to Watch

Mattieu Olivier

…somehow. I made the mistake of calling Mattieu Olivier a “pure goon” in the writers’ Discord a week or so ago, and he’s making me regret it since. Olivier followed up his first career two-goal outing Tuesday by finding Zach Aston-Reese for the bang-in goal to go up 2-0 against the Predators. Seemingly, those two plus injury returnee Justin Danforth have found some great chemistry as the Jackets’ third line in this young season. 24 already has three goals and five points through the first seven games of the season, which is 60% and 42% of last season’s totals respectively. Against another top-heavy team in the Oilers, Olivier may find more opportunities tonight to keep his hot streak going.

Also Mattieu if you’re reading this I take back the goon thing please don’t beat me up.

Jackets Notes

Daniil Tarasov has started the last four games, and seems to have taken the starting job from Elvis Merzlikins. … Good news on the injury front: Kent Johnson, who’s been out with a shoulder injury, will not require surgery. … Dmitri Voronkov has also returned to practice, but was still non-contact as of Friday. … Former Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations turned Senior Advisor John Davidson will be in the booth tonight on FDSNO, as Jody Shelley works the Leafs-Jets game on Amazon. Davidson was the color commentator for the New York Rangers from 1986-2006, as well as many national broadcasts during that time (including the 1996 World Cup of Hockey).

The Other Bench

After coming one goal short of the Stanley Cup, the Oilers started the season 0-3, before going 4-1-1 in their last six. … The Oilers have the worst penalty kill in the league, sitting at a whopping 60%. … Edmonton hired disgraced former Blackhawks executive Stan Bowman on July 24th, in case you had any doubts as to whether hockey culture has made any meaningful progress in the past ten years. … The Oilers lost both Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to the two ultra-rare offer sheets over the offseason. … Leon Draisaitl scored on the OT winner on his birthday yesterday.

Season Series

10/28/2024 – EDM at CBJ
12/5/2024 – CBJ at EDM

Stats

Projected Lines

Columbus Blue Jackets

Edmonton Oilers