Take Oilers To Dominate In Battle Of The Connors

Blackhawks vs. Oilers, 10:00 ET

Two hockey plays in one day? What is this Christmas!?! Well, hopefully it is, my friends. I am hoping that these two plays I'll have today will give us a gift of a sweep and a winning Tuesday evening. In my last article, I liked the angle that I had on the game, but this game stood out to me because of who is playing in it. In this game, we get two of the most recent sure-fire prospects in all of hockey as the Blackhawks take on the red-hot Oilers.

A consensus number one overall draft choice is fairly common in sports. Every now and then, you can find a player that is not only the consensus but regarded as a franchise-changing player. That's what took place with two of the guys in this game. For the Blackhawks, winning the right to draft Connor Bedard was looked at as an opportunity to take a franchise that struggled recently into the next decade with someone that can be the leader of the squad. The success hasn't quite been different from last year - the Blackhawks were just 7-16-4 on the season, and now are just 9-17-1 - but the level of optimism is higher. At this point, the reason for that optimism is Bedard. He currently leads the team in points, goals, and assists. The Oilers will surely gameplan for a way to slow him down. Petr Mrazek is likely to guard the pipes tonight. He is pretty average overall in terms of goalie performance. He allows roughly three goals per game, which ranked 29th in the league, but he is tied for 18th in the league with save percentage. He's been great over his past two games, allowing just one goal in the past six periods. In his last game against the Oilers in Edmonton, he allowed seven goals to them on 43 shots faced.

TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 16: Connor Bedard #98 of the Chicago Blackhawks looks on against the Toronto Maple Leafs- during the second period at the Scotiabank Arena on October 16, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Oilers were off to a terrible start, but someone lit the match under them and they are now on a seven-game winning streak. That winning streak could coincide with their former #1 pick Connor McDavid taking over once again and leading this team. Over the course of this seven games, he has scored a point in every game, and multiple points in six of seven. In fact, he has recorded 20 points over the seven games. Their offense has been rolling over that span as they've had at least four goals in six of the contests and scored three in the other. This winning streak has brought their record to a respectable 12-12-1 for the year, but a lot of work is still to be done. One of the bigger edges that they have in the game is the Power Play. The Blackhawks have scored on 10.2% of their attempts and the Oilers have scored 27.6% of theirs. Where it unravels further is that the Blackhawks have allowed goals on 23% of the opponent's Power Play opportunities. Stuart Skinner is likely to take the net for the Oilers. He has been pretty comparable to Mrazek. He has been in the net for six of the seven wins and has allowed two or fewer goals in four of the games.

All good things come to an end and the Oilers winning streak could come to an end here. It is highly unlikely as the Blackhawks are just 4-10 on the road this season. The way the Oilers are clicking and the offense looks too sharp to pass up right now. I think this game goes over the 6.5 total. The juice is at -142 right now which is higher than I like to give out. Instead, I'll play the Oilers to keep rolling and put up five goals on the Blackhawks. I'll play over 4.5 at -130 for their team total.

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