Game 34 2018-19: Oilers at Canucks
The first time the Oilers played the Canucks in an NHL game was on October 14, 1979. It was the third game of the season, Edmonton losing to Chicago and tying Detroit before the game against Vancouver.
Edmonton’s leading goal-scorer through two games? Blair MacDonald (two), Kevin Lowe, Dave Hunter and Mark Messier had single tallies. In the game against Vancouver, Risto Siltanen scored twice, Stan Weir scored his first of the season—and Wayne Gretzky scored the tying goal against Vancouver late in the third period. It was the first of his brilliant NHL career.
Tonight the Oilers have a chance to move into third place in the Pacific Division stand alone. The currently tight Pacific has Edmonton and San Jose tied for third, with 17 ROW and I believe the Alberta team owns the tiebreaker. Most of the teams in the division play tonight, so we could see some movement. For the Oilers, it’s win and you’re in.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton is going to bring it all season long. Proud to be part of a lineup that is ready to cover the coming year. Outstanding coverage from a large group, including Daniel Nugent-Bowman and Jonathan Willis, Lowetide, Minnia Feng and Pat McLean. If you haven’t subscribed yet, now’s your chance. Outstanding offer is here.
- New Lowetide: With Oscar Klefbom’s injury, will the Oilers look in unusual places for a solution?
- New Jonathan Willis: Takeaways from Ken Hitchcock’s lineup decisions for the Oilers against the Flyers.
- Lowetide: No. 7 prospect Winter 2018: Caleb Jones.
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How the Oilers Alex Chiasson is able to maintain his scoring touch.
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How Connor McDavid became the world’s fastest skater.
- Lowetide: Jesse Puljujarvi as an offensive player and what that tells us about his future with the Oilers.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 6 Prospect winter 2018: Cooper Marody.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 5 Prospect winter 2018: Ethan Bear.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 4 Prospect winter 2018: Ryan McLeod.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 3 Prospect winter 2018: Tyler Benson.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 2 Prospect winter 2018: Kailer Yamamoto.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 1 Prospect winter 2018: Evan Bouchard.
OILERS AFTER 34
- Oilers in 2015: 14-18-2, 30 points; goal differential -17
- Oilers in 2016: 17-12-5, 39 points; goal differential +5
- Oilers in 2017: 15-17-2, 32 points; goal differential -8
- Oilers in 2018: 18-12-3, 39 points; goal differential +4
The 2018 McDavids are now well clear of everyone but the 2016 playoff team. The 2017 Oilers would win two in a row to run the record to 17-17-2 after 36 games, before finishing 19-23-4 to land 36-40-6, 78 points. It’s such a thin line, the key is to stay away from a losing streak.
OILERS IN DECEMBER
- Oilers in December 2015: 6-3-0, 12 points; goal differential -3
- Oilers in December 2016: 4-2-3, 11 points; goal differential 0
- Oilers in December 2017: 6-3-0, 12 points; goal differential +8
- Oilers in December 2018: 6-1-1, 13 points; goal differential +9
December saved a lot of jobs and there are several Oilers (Mikko Koskinen, Alex Chiasson, Kevin Gravel) who are earning raises here or elsewhere. More on that in a moment.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM DECEMBER
- At home to: Vegas (Expected 0-1-0) Actual (1-0-0)
- On the road to: Dallas, St. Louis (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 1-1-0)
- At home to: Minnesota, Calgary (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 2-0-0)
- On the road to: Colorado,Winnipeg(Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 1-0-1)
- At home to: Philadelphia (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: Vancouver (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, San Jose, Winnipeg (Expected 2-2-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 7-6-1, 15 points in 14 games
- Current results: 6-1-1, 13 points in eight games
If the Oilers win tonight, they will have reached my projected point total (15) with five games to spare! Music!
This is a player Edmonton should be interested in, I’ve seen him make good NHL defensemen (Jeff Petry) look foolish. Opportunity knocks.
The problem with acquiring Burakovsky is that he’s making $3 million now and will need a new contract come summer. Edmonton’s list of players needing contracts is already fairly long:
- Mikko Koskinen, $2.5 million currently and earning a bigger raise with each win.
- Alex Chiasson, $650,000 and one of the best (if not the best) value deals in hockey.
- Jujhar Khaira, $675,000 and posting strong offense recently in a feature role (2-4-6 in his last eight games).
- Tobias Rieder, $2 million this season and playing an important role on the bottom six/PK when healthy.
- Cam Talbot, $4.1667 million and possibly heading for a deadline exit.
- Kevin Gravel, $700,000 on a one-year and earning the third pairing LH side slot in real time.
The cap is going up, but the Oilers already have over $67 million (projected) in contracts as they sit idling in the driveway. There’s $36 million for five forwards (McDavid, Draisaitl, Nuge, Lucic, Spooner), about $21 million for five defensemen (Sekera, Klefbom, Larsson, Russell, Nurse) and what will clearly be $5-6 million on goalies. That’s $62-$63 million on 12 men, or about half the roster.
KLEFBOM OUT 6-8 WEEKS
Another dagger for that blue line, already missing Andrej Sekera (who could return January after a rehab assignment) and Kris Russell (he might play as soon as next Saturday depending on who you’re listening to currently).
It sounds like the bet by the Oilers is this: Muddle through this week and then, when Russell returns, cobble together a top 4D you can trust. Here’s what I would like to see:
- Nurse—Larsson. This duo is playing so much right now the numbers are sagging, but there is a solid track record for the pairing. If Hitchcock can reduce their minutes, I believe they will prove to be best available from this group.
- Russell—Benning. In 166 minutes since 2016, this pairing is 47 percent in shot share and 50 percent in goal share.
- Gravel—Jones. It might sound crazy, but this pairing spent time together in Bakersfield and Jones’ wheels are such an advantage over Garrison’s experience. I expect to get some pushback, and that’s fair, but Jones, in my opinion, is a superior option to the slow boots of Garrison.
At this point, I’m not sure when Wideman sees the ice in an NHL game. He’s vulnerable to waivers when Russell returns, in my opinion.
First line needs more Germans tonight
Oilers pissed with the hot garbage reffing cue the comeback.
It must all be a function of the West Coast’s rampant globalist/liberal ascendancy that leads Bettman to institute a “soft” approach to play in Vancouver, so long as they don’t make the finals ever again…
Kassian got himself Green Bay Packered in front of the Vancouver goal earlier…and…nothing. It’s kind of obvious.
With all that, Oilers need this game.
Nope,
Think more some shit different pile
Is there an NHL referee in your family?
The refereeing in this game is comical.
So there’s some NHL reffing conspiracy against the oilers? Cause that’s what I’m reading here.
They got 4 shots in the second.
I tried being a ref once. I thought it would be a power trip. Then the players started arguing calls and I couldn’t get out of the game fast enough.
I was kind of afraid that was the case. Wow Garrison needs to be pastured out now.
Watch him score one in the third, now.
We’re Oilers fans. Please stop using reason and facts.
1st penalty was JP outmuscling Petterson. Petterson actually initiated the contact and could have easily been called for interference.
2nd penalty was Roussel putting Jones stick between his legs and then flailing his arms and legs until he drew the penalty. Veteran play.
3rd was Gravel getting his stick lifted which propelled the puck over the glass. One handed. Incredibly unlucky!
Meanwhile Kassian gets hauled down on partially breakaway. No call. Oilers aren’t getting many breaks.
Mcdavids line looking pretty ordinary. And that powerplay! Woof!
We’ll see how he does over the next few weeks, but Jones already looks like twice the defenseman that Benning is. When they get some dmen back they should look to move Benning..
Hard to get a shot on the opposition when the Oilers are perpetually on the PK.
But as was mentioned, Oilers can be outplayed in a period AND the referees can be one sided. It’s not one or the other.
I just watched a Canucks player grab JP’s arm and fall down for a call.
I watched 1 handed Gravel have the puck shoveled by Canucks over the glass and got called against.
I watched Jones try to remove his stick from a Canucks player who didn’t even fall down and got called.
Unless you think these are all valid calls, idk.
Not sure there is a conspiracy – but there are some incompetent officials. I will also I say there is a reluctance to call penalties on infractions committed against one player.
If there was a conspiracy, Kozari would be heading it.
We look slow
Ref acting as 3rd dman to begin the third period.
Draisaitl driving towards the net and the ref is in his line skating slowly backwards.
(kidding, but really, why was the ref in the way like that? lol)
We also don’t handle the trap well.
There is not a thing I can do about calls during a game. I understand the frustration but what I’m getting from a lot of posts here is that the refs are reffing the game in favour one team. That’s an incredible accusation to make in a professional sports league as it would call into question the outcome of every single game.
And tired
Hmmmm
Oilers in trouble now down 3-1 after another PP goal against
On the bright side, that last shift before the penalty had JP on McDavid’s line
And for those who don’t believe Petterson is in McDavid’s realm, that’s exhibit 1 of many.
So much for the Canucks rebuild – they might just take our playoff spot
Lots of folks still on the Koskinen / Montoya tandem bandwagon …. or are going to hold off on running Talbot out of town?
Not the Oilers night. Scheduled loss?
Réal Goudenyéu,
People can call the reffing terrible without it being a conspiracy. There just happens to be a lot of shitty refs.
So two Vancouver goals tonight are the direct result of oiler players shooting the puck over the glass and getting a penalty and people want to blame the refs?
Blame the 16 shots in 45 minutes and shit PK.
I am thrilled with the post Hitchcock recovery but one thing that is killing us is the face offs. 2 of the 3 PP goals the Canucks scores were within 15 seconds of losing the faceoff. Our PP looks terrible because we lose every face off and take 30 seconds to get set up, if at all.
I thought nhl refs generally manage games to give equal penalties. We are due for a PP soon
Really hate the Canucks so this performance is disappointing. Especially from top line.
LOL, what is the excuse for being tired? Blaming it on Taylor? Nucks played night before
Draisaitl should probably be off the top line after his game tonight. Sloppy.
Lots of time to come back in this one.
They’re playing a tired team and have got 17 shots through 50 minutes of play. Its not just shitty reffing.
Canucks on a back to back.
No, I think the Oilers have come up against a well-disciplined team with top-end offensive talent that has delivered on the PP.
Keep it. Our PP is a disadvantage to ourselves
The camera shows McDavid slide into view on the ice with the stick of a Canuck….but no interference right? Of course not.
Phlegms scored 2 goals last minute with the goalie pulled. Why can’t we
Man Dria can be frustrating when he’s like this. Just disinterested
PK is almost as horseshit as the call on Gravel. So you have seen the Canuck player literally lift Gravel’s stick sending the puck over the glass – and that is cool?
Aaaand no call on Gudbranson.
He hauled down an Oiler and then rode him for 10 seconds. No call.
And people wonder why we wonder about a conspiracy?
Generally a guy that is on pace for 104 points doesn’t get taken off a line after struggling for 2 period – in particular when he is on a massive heater on that line.
Ugh. Harold Snepsts.
Not sure I ever wanted to see that name again.
Agreed face offs and the PP need to be better
Whistles swallowed now. The damage’s been done. Home town boost – refs are human.
I’d love some consistency in the reffing but never happening for us and Kozari out there.
A lot of passengers tonight…
Draisatl refuses to shoot tonight.
Fuck these referees.
They’re doing everything they can to make the best player in the league as much of a non-factor as possible.
Call the fucking rules as they’re written in the rulebook, or you’re just deciding the result of the game rather than enforcing the rules properly.
Sorry, I phrased that incorrectly. I meant to say that he should be taken off the line just for the 3rd. Not long term or anything. He’s just been disengaged this game and needs to take that extra step or two more often than he has tonight.
Play just dyiing with Dria now. Got to stop gliding
Glad I decided not to go to the game tonight.
Ok the holding there not getting called sums this game up.
Your comment about biased reffing in a professional sports league confuses me given how many professional leagues have refs/judges out there accepting bribes to favour one team over the other.
I’m not saying that’s the case in this game, but I don’t know how one can watch refs continously not call egregious things against McDavid for example, and then give soft calls to the opposing team and say there is no bias.
Puck’s been a hand-grenade for the Oilers tonite
After watching Jets Bolts this game has negative entertainment value
Younger Oil,
Exactly
McDavid demoted? Kidding.
Oh man I would love a comeback.
Chiasson scored again.
Nice goal.
there we go
Chiasson..!
There we go
Chaisson!
Fantastic, but should have been a slash against McDavid on the pass to Chiasson.
Another 5v5 point for Nurse
I’m surprised they didn’t review it just because.
This is where the lack of obvious calls on Canucks might be the difference. Hate when reffing can decide a game.
Younger Oil,
Problem is 30 out of 31 owners are perfectly fine with that approach.
The fact that the refs arm doesn’t go up when McDavid gets a baseball swing to the arm before the goal is disgusting, even if we got a goal.
Wouldn’t that have been something?
“No goal, due to a penalty prior to the goal.”
Everyone is confused…
Canucks starting to look tired. McDavid just getting started.
It’s almost like one of these officials had a bad experience with McDavid. I think I read something about this – left the article in my den.
I’LL GO LOOK UPSTAIRS
This is why bad calls matter. Oilers were rolling in the 1st. Boeser and Pettersen were non factors. Two brutal calls later and they are immediately factors in the game on the PP. Then they go into the 5 man turtle shell and the game is porridge
Love Hitchcock’s use of time-outs since he got here too. Smart and timed well.
Not much runway left
Haha of course
fuckin’ Sedins
Except that occurred after 2.5 years of the same shyte occurring against McDavid.
Not quite Chicken vs. Egg?
Can we start referring to teams getting scored on with the goalie pulled as Oilering?
Look at that hold and interference on McDavid.
No call.
Hmmm…
Nurse sees Mcdavid wheel behind him and dumps it in with no one in the zone.
Tough way to lose but themself the breaks.
Living in BC means it’s gonna be a painful few weeks.
Oilers better refocus for the Blues, it looks like teams are finding the Hitch-system antidote again.
Kassian, Lucic, Garrison out there 6v5.
Somebody ban TMac from the bench please.
Call a spade a spade we got fucked by Kozari today.
It unfortunately has an opposing term of Flaming.
Stupid, sexy Flames…
22 shots in 60 minutes isn’t gonna get you a win most nights.
The ref looking right at McDavid getting hugged away from the puck for 5 seconds and doing nothing sums this game up.
The game completely changed after the Oilers pathetic PP in the first period where they never registered a shot, nor had control in the offensive zone for more than 10 seconds. The calls in the second certainly didn’t help any, but there was plenty of time in this game for the Oilers to take over the game against a team that played the night before.
Instead they made bad decisions with and without the puck all night long, and when they did have opportunities they bobbled the puck. They decided to start playing with 5 minutes left in the game and it wasn’t enough. Bad effort, bad game. Hopefully they’re embarressed and take it out on the next opponent.
Hitch won’t like the effort from the boys tonight. They were due for a stinker. Right the ship again on Tuesday.
Neither is having your best player getting mugged/slashed constantly without call and then being on PK for the rest of the game from soft calls.
Isn’t this the truth.
Would have been nice if the team could have pulled this one out for Koski. We need 2 more top 9 forwards.
On the postgame they literally just showed four blatant penalties against McDavid when thr Canucks announcers talked about how effective the defending against him was…
It’s unfortunate that the Pacific division decided they no longer wanted to be the worst division in hockey at the same time the Oilers went on a goaltender induced heater.
Same with the Ducks and Leafs.
Kadri and Kesler “defend” well against McDavid. Apparently so do Canucks players.
Old Slippery Pete’s seat is gonna get pretty warm when Edmontons PDO regresses to the meat.
This is precisely why it’s imperative for the Oilers to improve their secondary scoring. If you squint hard enough, JJ and RNH make 2/3rds of a good second line, if we could add a legit top 6 winger there, we might be in business.
the PDO hasn’t been crazy high under Hitch, but I’m not sure we have the horses to see the shooting % increase when the goaltending cools off a bit.
IMO the Oil weren’t outplayed tonight. They weren’t good though. Jones looks good. Will be on the second pair if he keeps this up. We desperately need a legit top 6 forward for the second line. We simply don’t have enough players who can score.
Derek,
Hmm don’t think our PDO is actually high. And someone mentioned yesterday it was 102 since Hitch came on board, which isn’t much of a heater at all. Goaltending has been, but not shooting percentage.
Disappointing game. Both the result and the quality. One team on a back to back and the other without rythm. On to the next one.
OMG the verbal by Hitch about “the tugging on Connor” is magnificent. Calling out the league at the same time as he calls it as he sees it. Brilliant.
You know what I hate? The plays where McDavid skates into the ozone with possession, then either breaks his stick or throws it away on purpose. I can only assume he’s doing it because he doesn’t think it’s fair that the opposition isn’t ready yet. Even the refs shake their head and remind him “NO”, so as he doesn’t score. Some of the opposition even try to help him by guiding his stick or tapping his gloves gently to cue him to stop.
That must be it.
Looks like we can add ‘Conspiracy Theorist’ to Hitchcocks resume…
Hitch:
You know, I’m not going to comment on the penalties, but the stuff that really bothers me is what’s happening to Connor. And that really bothers me. Because we’re a league that’s supposed to showcase our top players. And you don’t want to give them all the freedom, but, the tug-of-war on his was absolutely ridiculous today. And that’s a little bit discouraging to be honest with you; because I can see the whacking and hacking when he’s got the puck but to me it’s all the stuff behind that doesn’t allow him to showcase his speed. And if that’s what we want, then that’s fine. But I think it’s a real disservice to a player like him.
Q: Is this a volume thing where you can’t call everything?
He’s not allowed to play give and go, it’s give and hold. So, we’re going to have to find a way to fight through it or play toughness with them and figure it out from there.
I just took a quick peak at the Bakersfield statistics for the year and it appears both Benson and Hebig have cooled off a little since their torrid start.
Benson with only 3 goals is a little disappointing. We are a playmaker-heavy team.
Side,
Hitch could make InfoWars a reputable, mainstream source for news.
Can’t stand Canuck broadcasting, infuriating.
Caleb Jones evaluation was a highlight of the game.
Perfect
That is beautiful
Or decides to snowangel on the ice because he wants everyone to have fun.
This is brilliant. It’s nice that the Oilers have a headcoach who is finally calling the refs and league out on this garbage.
I guess it’s not just conspiracy theorist fans who are seeing this.
dsr29,
Hope he means Simmonds toughness and not Lucic toughness.
McDavid only drawing 16 penalties this year so far kind of does feel like a conspiracy/screw job.
BornInAGretzkyJersey,
Music!
Hi guys and gals, this is only my second post, the first being my prediction of 107 points this year. Really it is good they had this loss, doesn’t have an affect on the standings other than they didn’t get the 2 points but it will bring them down to earth and make them concentrate on Hitches teaching, in the long run it will do them a lot of good and teach them to not take things for granted.
Tmac witnessed this for three years and never said a word
Amazing comments by Hitch.
Build the statue now!
I was worried when the league implemented that “Puck over the glass” rule…tonight’s call against Gravel was the worst possible iteration of it….only took what? 8 seasons?
That call was brutal for 3 reasons:
-.the puck wasn’t sitting flat (was it even touching the ice)
– the puck bounced off the glass
– the canuck player’s stick provided all the momentum
Between this and the Kassian breakaway non-call, I turned off the TV because it was obviously not our turn to win….
We need a top 4 RD more.
Jones’ 5v5 Corsi tonight: +22 / -2.
And all he has to show for it is a cheap penalty & a -1 on the empty netter. Not fair. He was terrific.
Lots of posts over the last few years, in particular earlier this year, about the coaching staff never really calling out the refs on the lack of calls on the Oilers in general and, in particular, on McDavid – well coach Hitchcock fixed that in his post-game comments last night. Will be interesting to see if there is any overt effect.
(credit: SuperNova, Stats: Natural Stat)
Jones & Gravel Pair 5×5 tonight
Time on Ice Together 12:54
Corsi 95.24% (20-1)
Fenwick 100% (14-0)
Shots 100% (9-0)
Scoring Chances 100% (12-0)
High Danger SC 100% (3-0)
Also Played 3:52 of that against Pettersson
I’m not sure if we will start getting calls from the refs, but this will be a msjor talking point in the MSM today, both in Edmonton and nationally.
“But Carlyle said we were using Kid Gloves!”
Someone buy the man a beer!
Oh, and forward this to every league and media contact we can find.
He always seems to take down an opponent when doing this though, which is completely unsportsmanlike of him. He should be ashamed!
Temporarily, yes.
He’s been a revelation. Hopefully we can acquire a top-6 player for the guys Jones is displacing. If Chiarelli can work the fabled 3-for-1 deal for Niederreiter or similar underperforming sniper, some will be forgiven.
New 2nd pairing?
They are for now.
Garrison/Benning really struggled last night.
When Russell is back, hopefully Saturday, I think we see:
Nurse/Larsson
Gravel/Jones
Russell/Benning
Wideman
I would even waive Garrison to make room on the roster for the Russell activation but they seem hesitant to do so.
Nice
I guess if the league is Ok with soccer like acting like we saw from Pettersen and Roussel tonight I guess we’ll have to become comfortable with 97 doing the same in order to keep up with the competition. I’ve been saying for years the Oilers don’t sell calls like most of their opponents. The explaination of lack of calls was always oh they are a young team, have to earn the respect of officials first, vets get the calls, blah blah.
Gravel – Benning seems way better together on the third pair than apart.
How, temporarily?
Bouchard is at least till after next season away from being a 3rd pairing D. Persson and Jones and Berglund is at least till after next season away from being a 2nd pairing away.
And seeing all those guys are on entry level deals, the Oilers need a legit top 4 right D for at least 2.5 seasons.