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Game 58 Preview: Edmonton Oilers at Phoenix Coyotes - February 8, 2010 - 7:30 PM SNET WEST The Phoenix Coyotes (35-19-5) host the Edmonton Oilers (18-33-6) at Jobing.com arena tonight. Though the Coyotes were predicted by most to finish at or near the bottom of the Western Conference, instead they're currently 5th in the West. The Oilers are still at the bottom of both the West while also having a 7-point cushion behind both Toronto and Carolina in the Fall 4 Hall. The last time these teams played was Game 43 in which the Oilers lost 5-4 in overtime. Fernando Pisani took was called on a tripping call in the offensive zone which lead to Shane Doan's power play goal in overtime. Both Alex Plante and Taylor Chorney were sent back down to Springfield on Sunday which suggests that Ladislav Smid and Steve Staios are expected to return to the Oilers lineup. Sam Gagner injured his knee and left after playing ten minutes in the recent Oilers game vs. Colorado. I'm not certain if Gagner will be playing tonight yet. Both Gilbert Brule and Robert Nilsson were healthy scratches for the last two games, so it's possible that they might get a chance to play tonight as well. The Oilers have been pretty quiet heading into the March 3rd trade deadline. Lately, there have been many rumors other than the Oilers shopping players that lack trade value like Ethan Moreau or Steve Staios. I myself don't anticipate Steve Tambellini doing much if anything prior to the deadline. Tyler Seguin is still just 3 points ahead of Taylor Hall in OHL scoring. He's also played three more games with Hall missing time to play for Team Canada at the WJC. They currently have 86 and 83 points respectively. 
Jobing.com Arena The Oilers were thoroughly embarrassed and outshot by a margin of more than 2:1 in their last game vs. Colorado. Jeff Deslauriers played a solid game despite letting in a soft goal in the third period. It looked like he's been doing a better job at cutting down angles if not handling the puck better. Sadly, no one outside of Eklund has had much to talk about in terms of Oilers trade rumors. Eklund's latest rumor generator has Rusian Fedotenko, a #2, and a #3 headed to Edmonton for Ethan Moreau and Gilbert Brule with Brule being moved by Pittsburgh in a follow-up trade. It's too bad because I was just thinking that the one thing the Oilers needed was a 30-year-old, sub 200 lb winger who's -12 in 56 games playing for the Penguins. Well, at least he has an expiring contract. Actually though, I would do this deal in a New York minute if I were Tambellini, but hey, it's Eklund. Pre-game Stats: The Phoenix Coyotes have problems with their power play which is currently 27th in the league at 16.1%. However, their penalty kill is a solid 10th at 83.3%. Their also reasonably solid at winning faceoffs at 50.5% which has them in the middle of the road relative to the rest of the league. They out shoot their opponents by a small margin of .2 shots/game while outscoring them just .06 goals per game which are pretty narrow margins for their rank in the league. Bryzgalov has slid down to 11th in the league in terms of save percentage for goalies who've played at least 20 or more games. It appears that he's cooling off from a previous auspicious start to the season. 
Edmonton Oilers Projected Lineup: Penner-Pouliot-Nilsson Brule-Potulny-O'Sullivan Moreau – Horcoff – Pisani Jacques-Cogliano-Stortini Visnovsky – Smid Gilbert – Grebeshkov Staios– Strudwick Deslauriers Pitton *** Sam Gagner injured his knee last game, uncertain if he will play. Chorney and Plante sent down to Springfield 
Phoenix Coyotes Projected Lineup: Mueller - Lombardi - Doan Vrbata - Hanzal - Prucha Pyatt - Lang - Korpikoski Bissnnotte - Fiddler - Winnik
Michalek - Jovanovski Yandle - Aucoin Lepisto - Vandermeer
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You either forgot the daily line or wrote the article before you could access it.
The Coyotes are HUGE favorites to win this game with the money line set at -250/+210 in their favor.
I predict something boring like a 3-1 game with the Yotes winning tonight.