Edmonton Oilers host the Atlanta Thrashersin their only meeting this season - NHL Previews
The first game of Saturday will be hosted by the Edmonton Oilers as they square off against the Atlanta Thrashers at the Rexall Place.
This is the only meeting between the two sides and is very important for the Thrashers as they look to cement their place in the play-offs with the Conference still being very open at this stage of the season.
Thrashers were one of the favourites to make it into the play-offs at the start of the season and met the expectation in the early stages. However, their form has dropped considerably in the last few games which have seen them suffer quite a lot.
The Thrashers have seen a drastic drop in their form which has seen them losing 13 of their last 16 games. However, they will be looking to come up with a good result this time out as they start a five games road trip.
Though things aren’t good keeping in mind that they have lost last four road trips, still they would be looking to come up with their best performance so that they can keep pace with the Carolina Hurricanes in search of the play-off spot.
The Oilers on the other hand haven’t seen much happen for them throughout the course of the season. Though they haven’t achieved a lot but they have come up with wins every now and then and against some of the giants in the Conference.
Their last two games against the Dallas Stars and the Montreal Canadiens saw them winning the games 4-1 comfortably. After this game they would be facing some other big giants in the league like the Bruins, Wild and Blue Jackets which might see change in
the Oilers fortunes.
Things aren’t as sound for the Oilers as they haven’t been able to come up with three consecutive will playing on home ice. Keeping in mind the tight schedule that has some big teams coming up, this unexpected team can come up with any result.
"At the end of the day that's what we have right now, to play spoiler and continue to gain respect," Tom Renney said after Thursday's victory.
"Especially after the three games that preceded these two that have been well-chronicled as not being very good at home. We're a proud organization, and we want to represent Edmonton and our fans the way they'd like us to, and that means hard work, flat-out
hard work, and showing up every night.”
The Oilers have played 58 games in the season so far out of which they have won 18 games in regulation time, 8 games in overtime and scored 44 points.
On the other hand, the Thrashers have played 59 games out of which they have won 25 games in regulation time, 10 games in overtime and scored 60 points.
Ahead the game, Thrashers manager Rick Dudley said:
"What is most important for us is that it's a deal that will help us right now. We're in the playoff hunt," Dudley said. "It will also help us in the future. Both guys know our coach and it should be a pretty good match," referring to Coach Craig Ramsay's
prior tenure as a Boston assistant.
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