THREE STORYLINES TO WATCH
1. Black and blueline brigade: Calgary is already without a trio of defencemen in Robyn Regehr, Cory Sarich and Mark Giordano, and Dion Phaneuf is also apparently on the limp. That would leave a defence corps of vets Adrian Aucoin, Jordan Leopold and Jim Vandermeer, along with rookies Adam Pardy, Matt Pelech and John Negrin, who's played one NHL game.
2. Big line awakeNs?: Even though Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen combined for only one goal Tuesday's loss to Vancouver, both had strong games against the Canucks and a whack of chances. Will they carry that momentum into tonight's clash and be rewarded for it? Or will Jokinen continue to struggle lighting the lamp? Jokinen has not scored in the last 11 games.
3. Home Not-Sweet Home: The Oilers have a disappointing 17-17-6 record this season at Rexall Place and could finish with more regulation-time losses at home than wins for the first time in a decade. Edmonton had high hopes with six games at Rexall Place before ending the season in Calgary but has only one victory in the homestand -- over the Vancouver Canucks.
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G Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers -- Amidst the disappointment of missing the playoffs, Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish said the rookie netminder will play both games this weekend, having started veteran Dwayne Roloson in 36 straight games. "Roli is mission- accomplished from his perspective, and now we'll give him the games off against Calgary and see what Jeff can do," MacTavish said.
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IT'S WORTH NOTING ...
Flames D Dion Phaneuf didn't practice yesterday, which head coach Mike Keenan said was to give him a rest, but you have to question how healthy Phaneuf is after the team summoned D John Negrin from the minors and dispatched C Warren Peters to AHL Quad City. If Phaneuf can't play, it appears the Flames will play with only 16 skaters ... Also missing from practice yesterday were C Craig Conroy and RW David Moss ... Calgary still has a shot of a 100-point season, a standard the franchise has reached only four other seasons -- the most recent being the 103-point campaign of 2005-06 ... Since it's a back-to-back set, we'll trot out these horrible numbers one last time. Calgary is a middling 6-6-1 in the first half of games on consecutive nights and a horrible 2-10-1 on the second night. Edmonton is 7-8 in the first game of back-to-backs and 8-6-1 in the second game
1. Black and blueline brigade: Calgary is already without a trio of defencemen in Robyn Regehr, Cory Sarich and Mark Giordano, and Dion Phaneuf is also apparently on the limp. That would leave a defence corps of vets Adrian Aucoin, Jordan Leopold and Jim Vandermeer, along with rookies Adam Pardy, Matt Pelech and John Negrin, who's played one NHL game.
2. Big line awakeNs?: Even though Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen combined for only one goal Tuesday's loss to Vancouver, both had strong games against the Canucks and a whack of chances. Will they carry that momentum into tonight's clash and be rewarded for it? Or will Jokinen continue to struggle lighting the lamp? Jokinen has not scored in the last 11 games.
3. Home Not-Sweet Home: The Oilers have a disappointing 17-17-6 record this season at Rexall Place and could finish with more regulation-time losses at home than wins for the first time in a decade. Edmonton had high hopes with six games at Rexall Place before ending the season in Calgary but has only one victory in the homestand -- over the Vancouver Canucks.
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G Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers -- Amidst the disappointment of missing the playoffs, Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish said the rookie netminder will play both games this weekend, having started veteran Dwayne Roloson in 36 straight games. "Roli is mission- accomplished from his perspective, and now we'll give him the games off against Calgary and see what Jeff can do," MacTavish said.
---
IT'S WORTH NOTING ...
Flames D Dion Phaneuf didn't practice yesterday, which head coach Mike Keenan said was to give him a rest, but you have to question how healthy Phaneuf is after the team summoned D John Negrin from the minors and dispatched C Warren Peters to AHL Quad City. If Phaneuf can't play, it appears the Flames will play with only 16 skaters ... Also missing from practice yesterday were C Craig Conroy and RW David Moss ... Calgary still has a shot of a 100-point season, a standard the franchise has reached only four other seasons -- the most recent being the 103-point campaign of 2005-06 ... Since it's a back-to-back set, we'll trot out these horrible numbers one last time. Calgary is a middling 6-6-1 in the first half of games on consecutive nights and a horrible 2-10-1 on the second night. Edmonton is 7-8 in the first game of back-to-backs and 8-6-1 in the second game
