The Edmonton Oilers begin a four game road trip Tuesday night in New York, N.Y. when they take on former Oiler Jordan Eberle and the New York Islanders.
It’s the first time Eberle will play against the Oilers since being traded to the Islanders for Ryan Strome in the off-season.
“It’s a little different when you see them, I think it will probably be even weirder once you get out on the ice,” said Eberle in an interview with Reid Wilkins on 630 CHED’s Inside Sports. “I’m just going to approach it like another game.
“Maybe there is a little more incentive to win more than anything, you see the guys you’re lined up against that are buddies and it gives you a little more motivation for sure.”
Eberle, 27, had 382 points in 507 career games for the Oilers. He started slow with his new team going his first 10 games without a goal, but entering Tuesday’s game he’s red hot with four goals in his last four outings.
“Any time you come to a new team you want to make a good impression. As a guy who likes to score it was kind of frustrating a bit. I was still creating chances and getting assists but I just felt like it was just a moment in time before it was going to come,” said Eberle. “It took me a little bit of time to adjust to the system and find my place in the team and we’ve been scoring a lot of goals lately too so you want to be a part of that.”
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Throughout his first 14 games with the Islanders, Eberle has four goals and seven assists. That puts him on pace for 65 points, which would better the 51 he scored with the Oilers during the 2016-17 season. Eberle will play on a line with Andrew Ladd and Matthew Barzal against the Oilers on Tuesday.
LISTEN: Reid Wilkins speaks with Jordan Eberle on Inside Sports
For the Oilers, they can’t afford to worry too much about facing their former teammate. They need a win in a big way to kick off the four game road trip. The Oilers are 4-8-1 on the season and are coming off a disappointing 4-0 loss on Sunday at home to the Detroit Red Wings.
“We reviewed the game like we always do,” said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan. “But it’s behind us. We need to get out on the road here where I think we’ve played pretty well. We will try and get our game in order against the Islanders tonight. It will be a tough test because they’ve played extremely well lately.”
With Kailer Yamamoto being sent back to the Spokane Chiefs on Monday, the Oilers will insert Anton Slepyshev onto their second line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Milan Lucic.
The Oilers expected lineup is:
Maroon-McDavid-Draisaitl
Lucic-Nugent-Hopkins-Slepyshev
Jokinen-Strome-Caggiula
Pakarinen-Letestu-Kassian
Klefbom-Benning
Nurse-Larsson
Russell-Auvitu or Gryba
Talbot
“We need to improve in a lot of areas, just about every aspect of our game,” McLellan said. “The offensive part, conversion rates on outnumbered rushes would give us a lot more goals. Were down in that area. The power play has to get better. Defensively from the crease out we have to play better and, of course, the penalty kill is still a big issue that were trying to work on.”
Catch the Oilers and the Islanders from the Barclays Center on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 3:30 p.m. The game starts at 5 p.m.
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