Trade dead line was yesterday and many NHL teams bring plenty of new players in front of their fans. This preview includes two teams, who made a lot of moves close to dead line. Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers will face each other for second time this season.
Anaheim Ducks v Edmonton Oilers - Team news
Anaheim's season has been far from good. With 20 more games left to play they are second to last in their conference. This situation drove Anaheim to trade away some of their key players in order to get prepared for the next season, since they won't make the playoffs. Anaheim gave away Ondrej Kase (7+16), Derek Grant (14+6), Nick Ritchie (8+11) and few other players. Anaheim also added for example Danton Heinen (7+15) and Sonny Milano (5+13). Patrick Eaves, Eric Gudbranson and Ryan Kesler will miss the match due to injury. Cam Fowler is possibly out.
Edmonton Oilers acquired Andreas Athanasiou (10+14), Mike Green, Tyler Ennis (14+19) and couple other players and gave away Kyle Brodziak and Sam Gagner. Edmonton will miss Zack Kassian, Oscar Klefbom, James Neal, Kris Russell and Joakim Nygard due to injury.
Anaheim Ducks v Edmonton Oilers - Form in past 5 games
Anaheim is currently on 4 game losing streak. The Ducks made an impressive comeback against Vegas Golden Knights in their last game. Ducks were down 3-5 with 3 minutes left in the game. Ducks pulled themselves back to the game, but lost 5-6 after overtime. Anaheim has one win in five games and four losses and total of 3 points out of possible 10. Anaheim has scored 15 goals in their past five, which is 3 goals per game on average. Anaheim has given away 17 goals in their past 5. Anaheim has lost 5 home games in a row.
Edmonton Oilers have not been in best possible form, but after getting Connor McDavid back in the line-up, they won a game. Edmonton has 3 wins and two losses in past 5 games. One loss and one win has come after overtime. Edmonton has scored 15 goals in 5 games, while allowing 12. They had 7 points out of possible 10. Edmonton has won 3 away games in a row.
Anaheim Ducks v Edmonton Oilers - Who's hot?
Despite the 4 game losing streak, Anaheim has one player that is worth his wage at the moment. Adam Henrique has 7 points (5+2) in five games. Nick Ritchie had 6 points in 5 games, before being traded to Boston.
Connor McDavid had 3 points in his first game back after injury. McDavid now has total points of 84 (31+53) this season. Leon Draisaitl leads the league in points (36+62=98) and he has 8 (4+4) points in 5 games. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (3+4) and Kailer Yamamoto (2+5) have 7 points in 5 games.
Anaheim Ducks v Edmonton Oilers - What to bet?
Anaheim is basically out of the playoffs and they can now focus on upcoming Entry Draft this summer and get their new players in to the system. Edmonton is 5th in the conference, but only 4 points clear from the 9th spot. Oilers surely want and need success in playoffs and lot of important points are up for taking. Addition of Athanasiou will give Oilers more speed in the attack and Mike Green will be a solid addition to the blue line. Now that Edmonton has McDavid back in the squad and 3 other forwards are red hot, Anaheim will have a hard time trying to stop Oilers attacking lines. Anaheim lost more than they gained in the trade dead line, which will most likely show in this game.
Edmonton won the first meeting between these two teams with the scoreline of 2-6. In that game Leon Draisaitl had 4, Connor McDavid 3 and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2 points. Now with all those players in form and good additions to Oilers roster, I would expect a same kind of result.
Anaheim Ducks v Edmonton Oilers - The pick
EDMONTON OILERS
OlyBet 1.99
LeoVegas 1.97
Lapalingo 1.90
