Chicago Blackhawks vs. Edmonton Oilers – 8/5/20 NHL Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Edmonton Oilers and the Chicago Blackhawks meet in game three of their best-of-five qualifying round series from Rogers Place on Wednesday night.

The Edmonton Oilers will look to build on a 6-3 win over Chicago on Monday that evened the series up at one win apiece last time out.

Connor McDavid opened the scoring for the Oilers just :19 into the game before doubling his tally and Edmonton’s lead just 3:46 later. Patrick Kane got the Blackhawks on the board five minutes later but Tyler Ennis would restore the two-goal lead within the first two minutes of the second period. Slater Koekkoek and Olli Maatta would score in the second period to tie the game at three but McDavid would complete his hat trick to restore Edmonton’s lead at 4-3 with 2:50 to go in the second period. James Neal and Alex Chiasson scored :40 apart for Edmonton in the 3rd period to push the lead to 6-3, a lead that the Oilers would ride all the way to the finish line as Edmonton evened up the series.

Mikko Koskinen got the win after stopping 23 of 26 shots faced in the winning effort while Corey Crawford took the loss after allowing six goals on 35 shots in the loss.

Edmonton is 1-4 in their last 5 games as a favorite and 2-5 in their last 7 games following a win while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 playoff games as a favorite. Chicago is 6-2 in their last 8 games overall and 4-1 in their last 5 games as an underdog while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record. The over is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings between these two teams.

The Oilers finally fixed the problem that ailed them in game one by switching Mikko Koskinen as the starting goalie and it paid dividends. Chicago’s problem is that Corey Crawford just looks done and Malcolm Subban isn’t a long-term answer for Chicago either. I think we see another high scoring Oilers win so I’ll lay the juice with Edmonton here, but the over isn’t a bad play either.