“Whenever you go to a new team, there are differences in the style of play”, Giordano explained.
Advertisement
And he, like the rest of the Oilers, needed to wait until the third period (and, like, seventh powerplay) in order to break out, as the Oilers surged in the final frame to take down the Flames, 4-2. It’s also the highly anticipated debut of Hamilton as the 22-year-old will patrol the Flames blueline on a second pairing with Wotherspoon.
Like a lot of employees starting a new job, Dougie Hamilton was feeling a little queasy when he reported to the Calgary Flames training camp last week. Hiller, Ortio, and Karri Ramo are all on one-way contracts and are all fighting for playing time. Or do they think about making a move? He carried the puck up the ice and, alone and completely surrounded by Oilers, let a shot go – and scored, this time giving Cam Talbot something to regret and tying the game at one. A few of the boys said, ‘He’s just a player. What I love about Sekera is the fact that he blatantly stated that he is here to play hockey and is here to make this team better. With Ladislav Smid unavailable until at least mid-October, there’s definitely opportunity to be had on the back end. Talbot is nearly guaranteed to be the Edmonton starter come opening night. Ramo is the third piece of the goaltending triangle we mentioned earlier.
Much like the mobile Flames group, the Oilers are traveling a rather bare bones lineup to the Saddledome.
Ben Scrivens gets the start in net for the Oilers at the ‘Dome and will be backed up by Anders Nilsson.
The wait to see what Connor McDavid can do in the National Hockey League is nearing its close as he’s set to accomplish another first tonight. It was fun to play in front of a crowd like this and to play against top players. If he is able to be a number one goaltender is a great question.
“It wasn’t too long ago I was sitting there with 18-year-old Taylor Hall, our first year was together here”, he said, thinking back to the 2010 season when he took over the microphone from Rod Phillips, who’d been the “voice” of the Oilers for 37 years. Over in Calgary, the Battle got violent as Oilers top defensive prospect Darnell Nurse dropped the gloves with 6-foot-6 Flames prospect Hunter Smith.
Advertisement
Q: Can Edmonton make the playoffs this year with this roster?
