Can Connor Brown play the whole season with Connor McDavid?

The Edmonton Oilers take a three game losing streak into the Prudential Center where they face the New Jersey Devils. This will be the final meeting between the two teams. The first game resulted in a 4-1 at home on December 10th.

There are reports that Connor Brown will be a healthy scratch for tonight's game for the Oilers. He has no goals and only one point in his 23 games this season. He only played four games last season and had a lengthy off-season rehabbing his injury. Taking over 20 games to get settled in to a new team shouldn't be a shock to anyone.

Calvin Pickard will get the start. Pickard was the Oilers netminder for the first meeting between these teams - which resulted in a win - so I understand the logic in giving him the start tonight. Tomorrow the Oilers play the New York Rangers, so the two goalies would have split these starts regardless.

Keys to the Game

The biggest thing for the Oilers will be to start the game aggressively and don't take their foot off the gas. There have been plenty of games where they start great and then ease off for a period of time. That has allowed their opposition to get back into the game. They can't afford that tonight.

They are finally playing a game where they aren't up against a Vezina Trophy Winner (or nominee) and that should tip the scales in their favor. They need every forward to drive to the net to generate secondary chances from rebounds, tips and screens.

Game Predictions

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Game time will be 5:30 PM Mountain Time.

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