VANCOUVER \u2014\u00a0It is a high-wire act without, ironically, a net.<\/p>\n
Two nights after Tristan Jarry failed so fabulously on the national stage, the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> will turn to 24-year-old Devon Levi<\/a> in goal against the Vancouver Canucks Thursday (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ at 10 p.m. ET \/ 7 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n Faced with opening the Mike Babcock era with a pair of losses to last season\u2019s 32nd place team, Edmonton hands the keys to a kid making just his 37th National Hockey League start and 40th appearance.<\/p>\n Is that a lot of pressure to heap on Levi?<\/p>\n \u201cI think it’s just the opposite,\u201d Babcock said after a morning skate that revealed yet another injury, with Zach Hyman (upper body) out of the lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cYou come into the league, you want to play, don’t you? If you believe in yourself, that’s the whole key in everything in life.<\/p>\n \u201cYour dad can’t give you confidence. Your coach can’t give you confidence. You\u2019ve got to earn confidence,\u201d Babcock said. \u201cI bet you he’s just relishing the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Levi has earned the praise of his elder teammates this fall; his work at captain\u2019s skates and in training camp has had leaders like Leon Draisaitl singling him out for impressive play.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the young goalie will tell you that \u2014\u00a0despite limited minutes spent in an NHL crease thus far \u2014\u00a0he is far more ready for this opportunity today than he was at any point during his tenure with the Buffalo Sabres.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been through more,\u201d Levi said Thursday. \u201cThere’s more under my belt. More experiences I can pull from. More in the toolbox. Not only on the ice but off the ice too.\u201d<\/p>\n It is yet another sequel in the cinematic franchise that has become the Oilers\u2019 pursuit of stable goaltending, a screening that has been equal parts psychological thriller and whodunit. Or more accurately, who\u2019s going to do it?<\/p>\n Somehow a front office that has collected the necessary skaters to become a legitimate Stanley Cup contender has never found its piece in goal, writhing from the Mikko Koskinen-Mike Smith era, through Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, to now a three-man system that encapsulates the oft-injured Frederik Anderson, the oft-filleted Jarry, and the entirely unproven Levi.<\/p>\n For Levi, this is what a motivational speaker might call the precise intersection where preparation meets opportunity. A wide open door to become The Guy for a team that\u2019s desperately hoping for someone to step up and take the gig.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat else can you can you ask for?\u201d Levi said. \u201cAs a goalie \u2026 you want to be on a contender and you want to be the guy.<\/p>\n \u201cAll that being said, the focus here today is just to have fun, be present. I’m not looking at the end of the year and to win (the No. 1 job) today. Just let’s see how I can put one block down to build a foundation for the end of the year.”<\/p>\n Hyman\u2019s injury, suffered in the final pre-season game against Calgary last Saturday night, leaves Babcock jumbling his forward lines once again. Tonight, he will be without his two top-six left wingers (Matt Savoie, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins), his top line right-winger in Hyman, his third-line centreman in Jason Dickinson, and two-fifths of his top power-play unit.<\/p>\n With only 12 healthy forwards on the trip, call-up Josh Samanski will centre the fourth line. Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid played on a line together at the morning skate, leaving the Oilers perilously inexperienced up the middle of the ice as they trundle along without five forwards who were expected to play every night.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Edmonton lined up at the morning skate:<\/p>\n Podkolzin-McDavid-Draisaitl Ekholm-Bouchard
Jones-Dach-Kapanen
Formenton-Michaels-Joseph
Howard-Samanski-Frederic<\/p>\n
Shea-Murphy
Walman-Mukhamadullin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2014\u00a0It is a high-wire act without, ironically, a net. Two nights after Tristan Jarry failed so fabulously…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-917038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}