Edmonton Oilers take on sorry Tampa Bay Lightning in dead rubber - NHL Preview
Edmonton Oilers face the fading Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, March 22, 2012, at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
Both teams have nothing left to play for in the regular season and the game is essentially a dead rubber with both playing for pride.
The Oilers though are performing exceptionally well lately and will be looking for another win on Thursday as they look to end their season on a high note.
Edmonton are currently 14th in the Western Conference with 66-points and barring a mathematical possibility are all but out of the playoff race.
Tampa Bay on the other hand are once again on a poor run of form and trail the playoff spots by a mammoth nine-point margin.
The Lightning are currently on a three-game skid as they fail to perform defensively.
They now lie 13th in the Eastern Conference with 71-points.
Oilers (29-36-8, 66 pts)
Edmonton are performing well for a team with nothing left to play for and have won three of their last four games.
The Oilers wins are taking their role of spoiler seriously as they continue to put in danger other teams’ bids for making the playoffs with their brilliant performances.
Edmonton completely crushed the Predators in their last game beating the fifth placed side 6-3 on the road.
Forward Ales Hemsky scored a wonderful hat trick in the rout of the Predators as goaltender Devan Dubnyk put in another brilliant shift in front of the net making 41 saves.
Coach Tom Renney heaped praise on Hemsky after the game saying.
"I can't believe that. That is amazing. I hope he has many more. He is more of a passer, there are no two ways about that. He is as unselfish a guy as we have."
Adding further he said.
"It's nice to see the results for those guys working hard and staying with it. It's not been an easy season for us, but it is a season that we continue to grow through and be better for in the long run."
Lightning (32-33-7, 71 pts)
Tampa Bay would give anything to enjoy the purple patch their Thursday night opponents are currently in as they continue to reel from one defeat to the next.
The Lightning were pummelled 7-3 at home ice by the playoff chasing Buffalo Sabres, leaving defenseman Bruno Gervais to pan his teammates efforts.
"We didn't show up. We didn't battle. We need to get better. We need to take some pride and bounce back for the next game."
Predictions
Edmonton will be confident of victory and will be the favourites to take another two points.
Sum of goals will be more than six.
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