Game Day: Canadiens vs Oilers – Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy

• Jeff Petry on playing his former team: “It’s going to be good to go back into that building, but I’m going to approach it like any other game, there are going to be a lot of familiar faces, but once the puck drops it’s a game and I’m not going to be friendly out there, by any means.”
• Max Pacioretty on the Canadiens’ loss versus the Canucks: “It was a poor effort to start the game, especially in our own end. We had chances in the first, but we just didn’t capitalize. You can’t just abandon your own end, though. They got off to a 3-0 lead. It’s tough to come back in this league against something like that”
• Brendan Gallagher on the Canadiens’ loss versus the Canucks: “I think this is maybe what we needed. Everyone’s been telling us how good we are. Maybe we have to understand that it’s still going to take work, it’s still a process and you have to stick with it. We need to get better. We took a step back, but it doesn’t mean that we’ll have any trouble re-focusing and getting ready for the next one”
• Two former 1st overall draft picks, drafted 3 years apart, have started to develop chemistry on the Oilers offense; Both Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov are both riding 6 game point streaks and have 17 points between them over that span.
• Edmonton Oiler rookie, Darnell Nurse, scored his first career NHL goal in their last game versus the Minnesota Wild. Nurse was playing in his third career NHL game and was playing in the place of the injured Justin Schultz.
•  The Canadiens remain atop the NHL rankings in Goals For with 36, while the Oilers place 16th with 24. The Oilers have also allowed the 3rd highest number of goals against so far this season with 31.

2015-16 statistics

• Although the Canadiens are coming off their first loss of the season versus the Canucks, they still have the best offense in the league (36 goals for). Mix this with the fact that the Oilers have allowed the third most goals against so far this season (31), and you get a recipe to sit Cam Talbot. Unless Talbot is your only starting goalie and/or you need a specific number of goalie starts per week, it’s best to let Talbot ride this game out on the pine as the odds are really stacked against him.
• As mentioned above McDavid and Yakupov are absolutely on fire recently, and deserved to be started in any league for tonight’s game. The 3rd player on that unit isn’t getting the same attention, and believe it or not, actually has a 4 game point streak of his own. Benoit Pouliot has played no less than 15:53 (up to 19:51 versus the Wild on Oct. 27th), and fired 9 shots on goal over the last 3 games. Pouliot is a very underrated player right now and is playing in the ideal situation with McDavid and Yakupov; he is a must start going into tonight’s game.
• Many fans, myself included, had high hopes for Alexander Semin coming into this season and the initial impression he left in training camp and to start the season looked very promising. Unfortunately, from a fantasy perspective, Semin’s value has dropped significantly as the season progressed. Semin does log a fair bit of powerplay time each game, and he is surrounded with the talent on the second line (Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller), so it leads me to think it is just a cold streak. Regardless, unless your league is quite shallow, I recommend playing the waiting game with Semin before dropping him all together. If you have a full roster and you’re looking for someone to sit tonight, Semin fits the bill.

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