The Edmonton Oilers will look to spread the offense come puck drop against the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow.
EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers are looking for win number 17 tomorrow night against the Vegas Golden Knights. That would tie the NHL record for consecutive wins.
Evan BouchardThe Oilers will go back to their trusted top-six forward lines that have been staples of their lineup to this point. All signs point to the reuniting of Connor McDavid with Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as well as Leon Draisaitl with Evander Kane and Warren Foegele.
Breaking up Draisaitl and McDavid makes a lot of sense. With the Oilers being on a short three game road trip, Kris Knoblauch would like to see his offensive production spread out rather than "loading up" the top line.
The McDavid, Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins are the best line in hockey on a number of fronts. They are fifth in the NHL in expected goals for (xGF) with 22.8. The four lines xGF are: 23.3, 24.5, 24.8 and 27.4.
The four lines above the Oilers in this statistic all have one thing in common - they have played over 100 minutes together more than McDavid, Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins.
When looking at the xGF per 60 minutes (xGF/60) a clearer picture is painted of how much better the Oilers top line is compared to the other top lines in the NHL. Their xGF/60 is 4.62, the highest of any line that has played at least 100 minutes together this season.
Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.As the Oilers look to make it 17 wins a row tomorrow night, this strategy is definitely the best bet at getting the results they desire.
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