Game 48 2018-19: Flames at Oilers
In my many years of being a fan and observer, no rivalry for which I held a stake can match the 1980’s Oilers and Flames. Words that don’t ordinarily enter the hockey lexicon—acrimonious, ambush, bitter, boiling point, cannon, frontal assault, ghastly, Messier, murderous, take no prisoners, rout, seething, siege, sortie, stalag, vindictive, writhing—were used routinely in the decade Stanley spent in Alberta. If you loved violence and blood, this series from 1980 to 1991 is as intense as I can ever recall. If we get anything close tonight, count your lucky stars. What a fabulous ride.
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: Jay Woodcroft’s usage of Tyler Benson and other young forwards in Bakersfield is both welcome and encouraging for Edmonton Oilers fans.
- New Tyler Dellow: After 47 games, the Oilers’ 5-on-5 scoring woes stand out.
- Lowetide: The Oilers’ way forward and the smartest route to finding an impact winger this summer.
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Goalless Tobias Rieder hopes to follow Zack Kassian and Milan Lucic and end his offensive funk.
- Jonathan Willis: Why the Oilers should make a decision on Peter Chiarelli this week.
- Lowetide: The Edmonton Oilers appear to be mere hours from doing something overbold
- Lowetide: Complete Oilers top 20 prospects, Winter 2018
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 10 prospect Winter 2018: Dylan Wells.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 9 prospect Winter 2018: Joel Persson.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 8 prospect Winter 2018: Kirill Maksimov.
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 7 prospect Winter 2018: Caleb Jones.
- 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 48
- Oilers in 2015: 19-24-5, 43 points; goal differential -23
- Oilers in 2016: 25-15-8, 58 points; goal differential +7
- Oilers in 2017: 21-24-3, 45 points; goal differential -29
- Oilers in 2018: 23-21-3, 49 points; goal differential -7
A big game tonight and a big weekend full stop. Edmonton was 9-10-1 under Todd McLellan and are currently 14-11-2 with Hitchcock. Dellow’s fantastic article above shines some light on the 5-on-5 issues. Some you know, some will surprise you. I hope you read my Benson piece, but right after please read the Dellow item. For your own good!
OILERS IN JANUARY
- Oilers in January 2016: 4-3-2, 10 points; goal differential -1
- Oilers in January 2017: 6-3-0, 12 points; goal differential +1
- Oilers in January 2018: 4-5-0, eight points; goal differential -13
- Oilers in January 2019: 5-3-0, 10 points; goal differential 0
Some separation in these months as we edge closer to the end. Edmonton has a tough weekend but may be buoyed by recent wins and an outstanding run on the out of town scoreboard. If they win tonight, this town will be talking playoffs at the All-Star break.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN JANUARY
- On the road to: Arizona, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose (Expected 2-2-0) (Actual 2-2-0)
- At home to: Florida, Arizona, Buffalo (Expected 1-1-1) (Actual 2-1-0)
- On the road to: Vancouver (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: Calgary, Carolina, Detroit (Expected 1-1-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 4-5-2, 10 points in 11 games
- Current results: 5-3-0, 10 points in eight games
I expect three points from the next three games (or I did at the beginning of the month). No idea about where they get the win but will say tonight should be the toughest of the three. The series is 1-1-0 so far, Calgary winning the first game 4-2, Edmonton getting a shutout from Mikko Koskinen in the second game.
The Oilers group would have been impressed with the line of Tyler Benson-Josh Currie-Cooper Marody who are on a tear over the last couple of games. Maybe we’ll see a repeat of the old timey Bulldog Line (Michel Riesen-Brian Swanson-Daniel Cleary) who were called up as a line back in 2000.
I don’t think that’s going to happen, but do believe we might see a recall here in the coming days. Edmonton needs more skill. If they can’t trade for it, perhaps they’ll look to the options in Bakersfield.
The other reality? Keith Gretzky and the group might be there to look at the defensemen they’re willing to deal at the deadline. Here are the 5-on-5 goal differentials for the defensemen this year:
- Ryan Stanton 26-22 (+4)
- Ethan Bear 20-16 (+4)
- Caleb Jones 17-15 (+2)
- Jake Kulevich 10-9 (+1)
- William Lagesson 20-21 (-1)
- Logan Day 22-24 (-2)
- Keegan Lowe 23-26 (-3)
Jones is in the NHL, Lagesson is new to the league and Bear has had some injuries but is back playing as a regular. Who gets traded? The one true thing is that Caleb Jones isn’t going anywhere.
CURRENT OILERS ROSTER
- Many many articles over the last 30 hours about Puljujarvi’s current state. He’s scoring more under Hitchcock and has (mostly) played a top nine role since November 20. I think that’s called progress, but that’s just me.
- Kailer Yamamoto and Colby Cave looked good the other night, but tonight will be a better test.
- One of the wild things about this team since Hitch took over? Shot differential have gone south. Hurry Oscar!
BACK IN THE OLD HIPPIE DAYS
On February 3, 1984, the Edmonton Oilers ripped the Calgary Flames 10-5 at Northlands. Pat Hughes had a first period hat trick, Ken Linseman and Glenn Anderson (his 30th) also scored and it was 5-0 after 20. Calgary won the second period 4-3 (Hughes again, his 20th, plus Anderson and a personal favourite, Jaroslav Pouzar). In the final frame, Hughes scored again, his fifth tally. He was the No. 5 scorer among forwards that year, with 27 on the season. This year, Edmonton’s fifth-leading forward in goals remains Drake Caggiula, with 7.
TRADE DEADLINE TARGETS
My preference would be something less than a major major deal involving the first-round pick. Maybe you could get Mats Zuccarello for a second, that selection should be inside the top 50. Failing that, if you’re going to deal the pick for a rental, roll away the stone and give Ottawa the pick.
Is it too much to ask to have a D man who is willing to shoot first on the pp??
Our pp sucks! Everyone just stands still
Lovely.
And it’s over.
PP is tough to watch. Fake a shot once in a while, draw PK out of position.
531 for JP. 511 for Yamamoto
NHL is not a development league
Bah – that’s a tough one to give up.
A comeback win would be an epic night…
sheer joy in Randorf’s voice as the Flames go up 3-0
this weed is making me thirsty
lol ok time to use my time wisely. Goodnight.
Time to break some bones
Just need a few more PP opportunities…..l
Start with Randorf. Louie, I’ll give ya $500 to punch him in the mouth
PS: Now I know how Calgary fans felt in the 80s.
As I predicted, a massacre.
This team is so easy to play against: hack 97 and collapse to the net. The rest takes care of itself.
Oiler fans should have no delusions now.
Crosby went through it too. Sadly Connor does just have to play through it. Not saying it’s right, just that this is the way it is in the NHL.
We’re flat as a pancake. If you can’t get up to play Calgary, you can’t get up.
Real disappointing to see this in front of the home fans.
That post needs its jersey retired.
“Well, it was Gaudreau on Russell with the cross-check and Russell’s going to go to the box for 2 minutes.”
Sounds about right.
Announcers have done everything possable to build up this game. Refs have destroyed it.
Remember the talk of Calgary being vulnerable because they were on their 3rd game in 4 nights?
Good Times.
The NHL hates star players.
Fucking refs
Embellishment? What the heck!?!
The fix is in.
Nuge scores, Puljujarvi helps
there ya go
“We are not going to call the penalties unless you sell them.”
“Just kidding.”
Well, I didn’t see any lag or sense of give up after the 3rd goal – team still seems to e full effort –
Boom – huge goal!
Nice play by Jesse – nice finish by Nuge.
Just when you are about to jump they drag you back.
Not dead yet.
Nice.
Nice goal, maybe that wakes us up.
Nice puck protect by puju
That’s was a nice play by Bench boy
Rampart, this is 51, we have a pulse.
This isn’t on the refs, folks.
Nuge gives signs of life but this rope aint easy to push
more Nuge points
it’s still not a fair fight but we’re within spitting distance
Only if the team lets it bethatway. They can react and enforce, and they should. 100%. Regardless of penalties or scores. Lucic,do your frigging job!
Why would 29 need to embellish there? On a running cross check. Zebras making stuff up. Tkafuk could get an embellishment call every shift if that’s the standard
Jesse looked good that period IMO. They should just staple him to Nuge.
it wasn’t a pass. the puck was knocked off his stick straight to Nuge. nice take on the entry though.
Is the Nuge goal enough to keep me up through the 3rd???
This team…
I just poured some aberlour that’ll get me thru
Yamo getting the klima treatment. He’ll sit on the bench the whole game and then come over the boards to score the OT winner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSr-VWc_7WQ
Not sure what that is but make it a triple please.
Kypper making sense. Oilers don’t have enough guys willing to take the punishment. Haven’t for a long time
They need more shooters on PP1. Just way too much passing. I would move RNH on to PP2 (which badly needs a puck carrier/distributed) and add a shooter on the left half wall. Question is who? Maybe Pujuljarvi? (Needs to shave his sideburns) Rattie? Khaira? Maybe this should be priority for a trade. Hate to admit it, but PP1 misses Letestu.
That would be Klefbom, however, recent analysis shows that “bombs away” from the point is an ineffective PP strategy, generally.
Nope. This is one of those typical Oiler games where you walk away from it early so either A, you feel good because you can go do something else, or B you hope maybe you not watching it is some weird tier 1 fan voodoo shit which will spark a comeback because you were the one who stopped watching, even though you’ll still constantly check your phone for score updates.
+1
Kind of how I saw it to but he did have good position on the defender.
I wisely used my time to watch a beautiful play between Jesse and Nuge for a huge goal.
If Poolparty got an an assist, he passed it. That’s how I look at it.
2nd that. The 2nd nice short pass tonight by JP turned into a goal. Having the same centerman would help his growth. Just like Leon
not unreasonable. losing the puck that close to the net is a good place to lose the puck.
My cable box just fritzed out. Maybe for the best.
You’re right. I’ll watch the 3rd. Tired of voodoo. Oilers have wasted flocks of sacrificed chickens at my abode. Never mind the liquor…
Marody with a real nice finish off a Joe G. set-up.
Marody is sizzling.
Both Bear and Joe G. with two assists now on the night.
4-1 Condors
That’s astute – a right hand shot with good hands who finds the soft areas. Klefbom will help.
Nights like tonight give me hope with Poolparty. Sometimes it looks like he has all he needs to succeed save for some confidence & finishing details.
Jesse draws a PP – he’s having a good stretch of shifts.
Kassian had Rittich stumbling backwards…should have shot.
Most obvious penalty of the night and bodie is complaining?
omg a filthy save by Koski shorthanded
Koski…that was YUGE
Lucic scored. Puljujarvi helped.
Draisatil sure makes a tonne of low percentage passes.
I wonder if he will ever clean that up.
PP1 gassed out there way to long
I think Lucic got that
Wow – another 5-bell save by Koskinen – win, lose, whatever, I’m glad I didn’t “find something better to do”.
Ooop, Puljujarvi scored – 1 goal game.
+1
Shoot the Fin puck is never a bad idea
Cheers! Ardbeg time
Oh, wait, Lucic with a tip of a JP shot for PP2 goal?
That should be the top PP unit for while
They have created more opportunities with far less time…
Finishing details….check
Flames PP coming up
that’s kind of a lame call but whatev’s
That was Embellishment. Laughing at the bench
FFS that could be embelishment as well then if rhe call on 29 is rhe gauge
Looch giveth and taketh I guess
Hey, Milan, that’s what happens when you actually stay in front of the net, screen and tip (as opposed to standing beside the front of the net).
I said Lucic should replace Chiasson on PP1 a while back, if they are going to have Chiasson in front of net. Get Chiasson in Letestu spot, put Nuge on PP2.
McDavid gets crosschecked in the neck. No call.
Gaudreau gets a crosscheck in open ice. Call.
Great play by Drai and Brodz to draw that PIM.
Holy Sauce Mr. Draisaitl
Brodziak with a push thru to the net but nuthin’ doin’
Joe G. pot one, his third point of the night, nice pass by P. Russell.
Uncle Mo is back (not a reference to Lemay)
PP here we go…
Put Jessa back out FFS!
He’s full of beans
Great tip by Lucic, agreed OP that’s where he ought to be.
That snap shot by Puljujarvi had some pace on it, even from that far out. More JP on the PP!!!
97 pp zone entries not working
This is a hell of an entertaining game – guess it wasn’t quite over.
Whoa, Nuge almost ties it up.
It’s called lazy play. That’s what I’ve been saying.
it’s pretty exciting out there
JP skating like it’s pre-season
This fuckin league.
Fucking rediculous call on jp there.
That’s a bullshit call come on
..and then JP takes a penalty…damnit
How much has Yamamoto played…?
Wtf is going on Zebras! That’s a battle for a puck
So he must be neutralized Mwahaha
that’s a tough call on JP in this game-it’s a battle out there
The refs have been just terrible today. Just way to much management. All these calls (Flames and Oilers included) didn’t need to be called. Would have been a better game with less penalties. It’s ruined the flow.
Good pk
Nice kill
let’s not take a penalty here boys…
Or at least call it the same from the start!
Yeah not at all. Best PP zone entry all game was Drai, who made a nice pass to Nuge for a HDCF.
This game is great!
Also got to say, this has been Pujuljarvi best game of the season. Involved and using his plus skating every shift. Perhaps the confidence breakout he has needed ?
Missed obvious interference on Chaison in front of net
Agh, Caleb, bad turnover and the nail goes in to our coffin.
What a shot by Baklund.
game, set, match
poor turnover by Jones
Love how Kass taught on turtle tkachuk
Fucking dagger
The rookie kills us
I don’t think it is missed so much as it is ‘not called’
Oh dear just as the Oilers had them on the defensive.
Better team gonna win.
I don’t want to get used to it
That’ll help Jones’ confidence.
Every mistake caleb make is back of the net for us 🙁
Oh well.
Uh so does this loss make it more or less likely that chia will make a dumb ass trade?
Well, with all our PP,s we are over 20 shots, finally.
Folks, that’s a moral victory.
Waive manning
That penalty not called consistently ebough leauge wide. Hathaway on 97 was same thing in 1st
I love how the zebras can call Leon for embellishment and phlegms get away with 2.
4th straight win for the Condors.
The much better team tonight.
I think I saw Yamo on the ice once in the first
well it’s all fun and games for Flames fans now
5-2 on a late PP
Ok – time to take an instigator
The NHL is not a development league.
Unless Oilers.
Flames and their fans feasting on our tears.
It’s so easy for them!
They even have a better player than McDavid now.
Tough times in E-town.
#neverindoubt
Should be open season now, but not enough pricks on this team
Watch PTS nightly. McCown has at least 3 times recently brought up the meeting in southern Cal with Katz and i believe Bob N (Bob N good friend of McCown). I think Chia has to go through higher ups for any trade. I wouldn’t be surprised he is gone before deadline.
I’m confused.
Which team do I hate more? Hockey used to be so easy.
I don’t know about Chiasson on this first line.
Yamo sighting!!
It was fun for a while but another Tabernac Saturday
Bring on the Hurricanes and maybe we can salvage this weekend
You are this blogs version of spinster Stauffer. Funny.
Man a half ass competent PP would have been a difference tonight. Been that way since Souray broke his hand
I really like Carolina, excited to see them play tomorrow.
Ice Sage,
For half the price.
Spinster, Stauffer, Shyster, Lawyer
Jesse earned his way to more minutes tonight. Its time he is stapled to Nuge. Let’s see what happens tomorrow and what MSM has to say
18 penalties and not one fight. Fuck me. It’s almost as if we tune in to watch the refs and not the players.
2 primary assists and he looked like a gazelle out there
more please
Tough night for Caleb…….kind of froze and did nothing on gio’s goal and then the weak BH giveaway for the backbreaker
It’s the Oiler way……throw your young into the deep end
Agree with what everyone else here is saying….Jesse looked great tonight. If this org sends him away I hope he wins a few cups and scores many winners against the oilers
Hitch looks like a little kid sitting between those two.
So the flames start their rebuild already have Gio, pushing 30,( an undrafted free agent signing) , Brodie, (a fourth round pick), and Backlund, (a late first rounder)
They draft Gaudreau in the fourth round in 2011 after we draft Nuge first overall and they draft Baertschi in the first round (and end up giving him away)
They draft Jankowski in the first round in 2012 after we draft Nail first overall
Monahan in the first round in 2013
Bennet in 2014
Trade the 2015 15 th overall and 2 seconds for Hamilton.
Draft Tkachuk in 2016
Draft Valimaki in 2017
Trade the 2018 for Hamonic in 2017
Trade Hamilton and a former fourth rounder Ferland and third rounder Fox
For a former fourth overall Hannifin and fifth overall Lindholm.
Sign Nobody DAvid Rittich to become An all star level goalie
So their top pairing/almost best D pairing in the league are an Undrafted free agent and a fourth rounder
Their best forward is a fourth rounder
Their goalie wasn’t drafted
Tkachuk was picked one after Puljujarvi and Monahan one before Nurse.
Jankowski is a valuable penalty killer third line Center and yakupov is in the khl
Somehow this makes them the best team in the league
None of the lead scouts or senior executives that signed Giordano,drafted Brodie, Backlund, Gaudreau, Monahan or Jankowski still work there…
Maybe there is a lot more randomness and fluke to this than anybody in the hockey industry want to admit…
The randomness notwithstanding it’s amazing that Sutter, Feaster, Burke and the head scout that drafted Gaudreau and Brodie (can’t remember his name, he wAs American) were all fired but Lowe, Mctavish, Howson, Nicholson and Chiarelli are all here despite the long litany of bad moves we all list daily here. It really all belongs in a bizarro world
One thing Tambellini doesn’t get enough credit for was firing Prendergast who was chief man responsible for the decade of darkness. Unfortunately he promoted Stu Macgregor who has to own much of the responsibility for the current crap team.
Glovjuice,
🙂
Buying in and giving a shit maybe.
oilersfan,
Draft and develop good players. Trade for good players.
I read that somewhere
We will be seeing a lot of teams winning Cups if we keep saying this for every Oiler.
Tough one last night – that’s a solid hockey team they were up against.
I was hopeful, and remain hopeful, for 4 points out of the 6 available in the last 3 games – I think that will put the team in a solid position and will complete the “tread water without Klefbom” requirements.
Need to win the last two.
Time to focus on Carolina.
Go Oilers!
LOL – Alex Chiasson on McDavid’s wing was a mind-boggling decision when it was first tried (as Alex was on a heater away from McDavid) and has proven to be simply a terrible deployment of the roster – rivaling any deployment that McLellan went with.
McDavid scores at worse rates when put with Chiasson.
Chiasson scores at worse rates when put with McDavid.
Chiasson has a great GF% away from McDavid.
Spooner or Rattie please.
Shit, do both.
Spooner/McDavid/Rattie
Rieder/Drai/Chiasson
Khaira/Nuge/Puljujarvi
Lucic/Brodz/Kassian
or, if the coach won’t split up McD and Drai
Drai/McDavid/Rattie
Khaira/Nuge/Puljujarvi
Rieder/Cave/Chiasson
Lucic/Brodz/Kassian
That was San Diego’s first regulation loss since December 8 last night, 15 games.
The Condors were the better team from start to finish.
7 points for Marody in the last 3 games.
OriginalPouzar,
This is definitely entering Caggiula-esque territory. The sample’s getting bigger, to the point where it could pretty reasonably be asserted that it’ll begin soon to cost the team points in the standings
The unique thing about Caggiula+McDavid (at least in 91’s first two years) was that they had a cranked PDO and still didn’t have a good goal-share.
McDavid and Chiasson together have a 1036 PDO (driven by both sides of the equation) and still only have 50% GF.
Connor’s unblocked shots per hour on the ice without Chiasson is 48.3, with him it’s 40.5. The rates against are 43.3 and 50.0 respectively.
It’s to the point where I almost just don’t care what their zone-time or red-zone chance differential (and whatever other things that are tracked by the team) are. The results have needed a 1036 PDO to function, to function as sawed-off minutes in the place of the only ones the team used to win. Yikes.
Fucked. Totally fucked. Stunning.
OriginalPouzar,
I like the first set of lines. Drai needs to be separated from McDavid. He starting to do those no look passes thinking he knows where Connor is and he’s nowhere near close to them.
OriginalPouzar,
I’m with ya, it’s past time to bump Chiasson down to a secondary line,
But I think Hitch keeps it for two reasons:
To have someone on the first line (each line for that matter) that can retrieve the puck under pressure and maintain possession after the first shot.
Desperation, none of our other wingers has played well enough. Rattie and Spooner have been huge disappointments, putting a player on the first line because he can skate and can’t do anything else is already proven to be foolhardy.
I’d try Kassian again or Khaira before those players.
Except Spooner hasn’t been given the opportunity – and he’s the one that has had success in that type of situation in the past.