Saturdays in Canada. As kids, we’d have chores to do (my brother was allergic to cow’s milk, so we had goats, who are a little addled but you grow to love them) and maybe there was a trip to town. My Dad bought some of the first Wagon Wheels ever made at the Lloydminster Co-op on a Saturday, Orr and the Bruins hammered Toronto later that night. Music!
Everything that needed to get done was usually finished by 4pm, and then we could begin the Saturday night tradition. Bugs Bunny when we were smaller, then HNIC, and usually a game of crib or two against my Dad. I can still see the crib board, those worn out cards, the coal oil lamp (we spent a year without electricity when we moved to Maidstone) and waiting, hoping for my Dad to look at the clock and say “alright, one more game.” Thanks Dad, miss you.
Saturday night with the hockey game makes it authentically Canadian. We’re entering a season where Toronto could win Stanley, I imagine the west and Quebec will separate by August. I kid. It’s Canada’s game on Canada’s night, a six hour period where demon liquor, laundry on ice and the opposite sex combine in a magical cocktail that allows our escape from the northern winds and the lonely howls of the coyotes just outside.
We’re at the pool hall, we’re at the legion, we’re at the bar, we’re pre-drinking before a night on the town. WHY do we live here, so far north? Why are we excited about sticks and pucks and fresh ice? It’s in our blood, it’s in the air we breathe. Do you have enough CR? Mix? Make sure there’s 52 cards, the kids were playing with them yesterday. Juha Widing’s team is in town. It’s hockey night.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton features a fabulous cluster of stories (some linked below, some on the site). Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. Proud to be part of The Athletic, we are celebrating our 2-year anniversary this week. To mark the occasion, you can get 40% off subscriptions here.
- New Lowetide: A shift-by-shift analysis of Ethan Bear in the Oilers’ season opener
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Looking at how the Oilers can manage on defence without Adam Larsson
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: No need to temper expectations after Connor McDavid’s season debut for Oilers
- Lowetide: Ken Holland has a plan for the Oilers’ top prospects.
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: At home with Ken Holland: Packing away the championship memories and preparing for a new challenge
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Q&A: Oscar Klefbom on being a mentor, his strategy for staying healthy and saying goodbye to a friend.
- Daniel and Jon: Ten bold (and not so bold) predictions for the Oilers this season
- Lowetide: The Oilers are poised to break a 25-year-old franchise record this season
- Lowetide: Jay Woodcroft’s Bakersfield Condors might be bound for glory
- Corey Pronman: Oilers No. 9 farm system.
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects summer 2019.
OILERS IN OCTOBER
- Oilers in October 2015: 0-2-0, goal differential -4
- Oilers in October 2016: 2-0-0, goal differential +5
- Oilers in October 2017: 1-1-0, goal differential +2
- Oilers in October 2018: 0-2-0, goal differential -6
- Oilers in October 2019: 1-0-0, goal differential +1
The only time Edmonton started the season 2-0 in the McDavid era, the club made the playoffs. Adam Larsson’s injury cast a pall over the postgame on Wednesday, but the kids on the farm are stacked and racked and ready. A win tonight would be a major early positive. The fact it’s on HNIC is just a bonus.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- At home to: Vancouver, Los Angeles (Expected: 1-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: NYI, NJD, NYR, CHI (Expected 2-1-1)
- At home to: Philadelphia, Detroit (Expected 1-1-0)
- On the road to: Winnipeg, Minnesota (Expected 1-1-0)
- At home to: Washington, Florida (Expected 1-1-0)
- On the road to: Detroit, Columbus (Expected 1-1-0)
- Overall expected result: 7-6-1, 15 points in 14 games
- Current results: 1-0-0, 2 points after 1 game
I look at the road trip as a chance for coach Dave Tippett to roll four lines, but without Riley Sheahan on the No. 3 line it might be a little dicey. You can’t play Leon 26 minutes a night all season. I also wonder about the defensive pairings without Larsson. There are no black and white decisions I can see, only shades of gray. The recall of William Lagesson was a good move, in my opinion.
BAKERSFIELD GAME 1
I was impressed with Kailer Yamamoto, Tyler Benson, Evan Bouchard, Josh Currie, Caleb Jones and Shane Starrett. The entire team pursued the puck and made plays, have to be impressed with Jay Woodcroft. Yamamoto was used in all situations, including late in the game protecting the lead. The young man has the highest ceiling among the forwards in California, it’ll be interesting to see how long he spends in Bakersfield.
TONIGHT’S BLUE
We’ll find out soon enough about Joel Persson, that will inform Tippett’s decision. If he can’t go, I would expect Klefbom-Bear, Nurse-Russell and Lagesson-Benning. If Persson can go, it could be Klefbom-Persson, Nurse-Bear and Russell-Benning. Either way, fans should be confident. Lagesson is ready, Persson looks good and you have to start somewhere. I wrote an item for The Athletic the other day about total players for Edmonton this season, and part of the equation could be close to one dozen recalled Condors. Lagesson is the first. Won’t be the last.
After seeing the replay I thought it was more of a dive by the LA player than a penalty on Neal’s part.
Only if it is one of your multiple personalities/aliases.
Its the perfect opportunity to get Mikko in.
I can’t imagine it not happening.
No, but it’s inevitable one would think.
Has Tippett already come out and say Kosh is starting Tuesday?
Everyone else in the league does its turning into Soccer especially with the terrible officiating last night. Connor want’s to make the playoffs bad this here.
Clap clap
They play Tuesday against the Isles.
So did i and I mentioned it last night.
The first two, the puck-playing mistake empty netters will happen – the 3rd goal was a weak goal.
Smith battled and made some big saves and plays after that. Obviously Mikko gets the stat on Tuesday but I have full confidence in Smith still.
Am I allowed to say I really, really don’t like the 5 lefties on the PP1?? If Leon is your shooter on the right side looking in at goalie, fine. Nuge can’t “bury” passes if he has to stop the puck because he is 15-20 feet out, then shoot it. Ok, I will stop with this now……I think.
Connor should have had 7 points tonight. Shoot young man.
We’re 2-0 woohoo! 🙂
Once he mixes in some 5×5 with crisp shots low blocker or top shelf, maybe.
Also, I noticed that McDavid has finally learned to or submitted to selling his holds and locks.
This got a few penalties tonight. The League is in a lot of trouble now that McDavid will be on more Power Plays.
That last penalty to negate the Draisaitl Empty Net Goal was ridiculous.
Neal had the puck, and immediately following him passing to Draisaitl (the stick was still in pass mode) an already-falling Carter slid into him. Nothing he could have done.
Yet, woe be on to the ref who lets the Oilers score an Empty Net Goal.
Did you end up being excited about Jurco or still not?
The pass to himself off the boards and through the defender’s legs was a very nifty move before the Nurse goal.
Actually that was Leon giving a big “Fuck You” to Lucic.
This kind of hockey was unsustainable for McLellan and Hitchcock. Does Tippett have any secret weapons he can use? *sigh* They are who we thought they were.
So far the other teams have been bad. Hopefully this continues. Rack up them points, boys. Many ugly teams get into the playoffs.
Funny what supporting cast support can get you. They did everything they could to lose this game and still found a way. I know LT calls them single meaningful events, let’s hope they got them all out at once! How many brain farts?
Another too many men, while shorthand no less
Penalty in the OZ trying for an EN with under a minute to play
Smith’s first giveaway
Smith’s second giveaway
Cave not taking the man in front of his net
The Kings capitalized on 4 of those! My goodness DT needs to throw down the hammer on these boneheaded plays. Still, what a win! They made us sweat for it.
The horn section was there last year. I hope they learned new songs.
Anyone who thinks Haas was bad in game 1, go re-watch the tape…he showed more of the same tonight and it clearly didn’t take him long to earn coach’s trust…he was out there protecting the lead with less than 3 mins in regulation…He’s fast, smart, tenacious etc…When Sheanen returns and Haas slots down to 4C he’ll be very effective.
Bear, Persson and Lars are all average skaters, but the first two are more offensively minded and less willing to cede the offensive blue-line…we will see their foot-speed exposed more than larsson but IMO their offensive contributions are net positives.
Benning played less than 15 EV minutes tonight…who would have guessed that?
I’m very encouraged by two coaching decisions tonight, not to Dress Manning, and not to pull Smith.
Anyone notice Granlund hook Kopitar betwixt the legs with 2 seconds left? Kopitar gave him two nasty cross-checks to the forearm where there’s almost no padding…Granlund’s arm will be black and blue I bet.
Agreed. Minutes are crazy up there but this actually a very smart strategy. Momentum in October can determine the entire season. Builds confidence right away,
Takeaways:
Yurko – dude has skill. When was the last time we saw any forward not named McD, Drai or Nuge, dangle a d-man on a 1-on-1 and make a beauty pass.
House & Kneeguard – Showing skill now. In game 2. For bottom 6, that’s something that’s been missing for many years.
Bear – held his own against their top line. I liked him with Klef but he might be even better suited with Nurse so we’ve got someone there who can pass the puck on the tape and with patience.
Neal – He is going to score 20+. You can already see how our PP is going to cut into teams.
Nuge – He got some good looks, just needs to bury it.
Drai – He takes a ton of risky pass chances but I still think he is the best passer in the game. Having said that, the McD pass after he strips Doughty, was ridiculous. Often on those plays guys will feed it more towards the slot since it’s the safer percentage, but he somehow knew to feed it farther back, exactly where Drai was.
Continued progression Bear. Great rebound game for Haas. Nygard progressing.
For a bottom-6 made-up from bits of used binder twine and gum pulled from under the seats of the pews at the back any progression – even if stop-and-start in nature – is good to see and, small sample size alert, we ARE seeing that so far.
Too many minutes, again, for the big-3 but looking at the schedule I see what the plan is:
– Game 1 on Wednesday
– 2 days full rest
– Game 2 on Saturday
– 4 days full rest
– Game 3 on Thursday
So it kind of makes sense given the rest days in-between. Won’t be sustainable though, only 1 day of rest before Game 4 hits on the Saturday (vs. Rangers) and it does tighten up a bit overall from there.
At the game tonight. By no means was it a defensive or goaltending masterpiece, but it was one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen live.
One thing that irked me was the fact that Neal was named first star (in the arena at least) after that stupid, stupid penalty with 45 seconds left.
I will also be curious to go back and read the comments about Smith’s stickhandling after he was widely praised for that here after the last game.
I saw Persson slow twice. He showed good skill otherwise but that lack of speed could be his downfall.
Tabernac! 😉 Whatagame.
I have more problems with Smith’s 3rd GA than the first two, but maybe that’s just me…
Because he’s coming of injury/procedure?
Haas had two minutes last game. Did that reflect on his TOI tonight?
thanks again!! cheers!
I’d love it if a player actually referred to Neal as “the real deal” in a post game interview rather than “Nealer”
Why does a Jurco have such long sideburns?
Played 8:31.
I was at the Flames game tonight. I watched the highlights of Neal’s goals with some Flames fans. After Lucic had 2 penalties and a couple stone-hands chances, they’re looking at each other like “uh oh”.
Of course, i was happy the day it was made.
Jurco doesn’t look like a typical tweener. Lots of skill. Agreed that was a great play.
Nygard was getting to a lot of loose pucks.
He had a very tenacious back check on Kopitar in the third. Kopitar just managed to shake him, but he was thrown off enough that he promptly slipped while going into a turn.
That kind of back pressure from the swift skating Euros is going to make things easier on the D this season.
Toi data tell a story.
Still running Draisatl and McDavid ragged.
Draisatl 26:04. Aka the laziest player in hockey.
McDavid 24:07
D men
Dreamy. 26:34
Nurse 22:34
Feed the bear 18:58. https://mobile.twitter.com/Woodguy55/status/1180675983898103809
Russell 17:18
Persson 14:49
Benning 13:30
encino man 6:34
Is Benning injured?
Taylor Swift’s performance of Lover on SNL was McDavid class good
The Jurco dangle on the Nurse goal was incredible, but Nurse made a very heady play in corralling that pass, getting Quick to move the other way, and then shooting across his body low glove side.
Very smooth.
If he plays like that every game I’ll like him plenty.
Cave, on the other hand, bleh.
Two guys that stood out to me tonight we’re the Euros: Haas and Nygard. Haas made a bunch of really nice stick plays in both the D zone and O zone and the set play off the face off for Nygard’s goal was really smart. Nygard is starting to really use his speed and is showing some real tenacity, pissing off the opposition. He was good even before the goal.
Drai 26 min tonight.
Tippett says that will come down with Sheahan coming back b/c he will take those PK draws.
Given all the Euro-ice adjustment factor, I think it’s plausible Haas, Nygard, Persson all improve for a while yet. To what ceiling, we’ll see. I see Cave and some others as a placeholder/backup until they get passed by those improvements (if not already.
Draisaitl was absolutely outstanding again tonight
I hope when Sheahan is back Cave is out and Leon gets his minutes reduced, especially on the PK
It was very generous of him to pass to Neal for the empty netter but really Leon should have just shot it in
Jurco , Haas and Nygard all looked good with their first oilers points and pushing the puck in the right direction
I suspect Mikko starts next game. Let’s hope it’s good Mikko
Persson was a bit tentative on some of his reads and a little off on his gap control. His puck moving is a real asset, though. I really like his ability to keep pucks in and make plays at the blue while in the offensive zone, and both he and Klefbom contributed to that Kassian goal in that respect.
Had a nice sequence in the first where he changed the angle of his stick to get a good shot on goal. Another nice cross ice pass against the grain to Drai in the third.
For a first game, I think he did quite well.
So OP, just checking… are you happy with the Lucic for Neal trade? I assume yes, but if not, would find it interesting to know.
Stauffer on the wagon that Haas draws in over Cave with Sheahan coming back.
OriginalPouzar,
Haha, you DID beat my response… thanks again.
True.
HT Joe,
Nevermind… found it.
2017-Apr-07 – 911 days ago. I feel better about having no recollection of its occurrence. 🙂
Playoffs against SJ – also had a fight that game.
I mean…he was BRUTAL in his 2 minutes on wednesday…