The mind floods with memories, with only an ‘Oilers at Islanders’ verbal prompt. A lot of Edmonton’s NHL hockey history played out on the ice the current team will negotiate tonight.
The first game played at Nassau Country Coliseum by the Oilers finished 3-3, on goals from Bill Flett, Blair MacDonald and Peter Driscoll. Boxscore is here. The most memorable: 34 saves on 34 shots by Grant Fuhr, Oilers 1-0 winners May 10, 1984. Boxscore here. You talk about tense. It was mid-summer before the collective Oilersnation sphincters completely relaxed. Those two teams, Islanders and Oilers from 1975 to 1992, are among the best who have ever played this beautiful game. That old arena may not be much today, but if walls could talk.
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, there is a Puck Drop Special offer here.
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How Joel Persson went from being a part-time teacher three years ago to patrolling the Oilers blue line (this is exceptional).
- New Lowetide: Keeping an eye on Jesse Puljujarvi: Which teams could emerge as potential trade partners?
- New Lowetide: Kailer Yamamoto’s fast start in the AHL highlights an active week for Oilers prospects
- Lowetide: A shift-by-shift analysis of Ethan Bear in the Oilers’ season opener
- 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: 0-3-0, goal differential -6
- Oilers in October 2016: 2-1-0, goal differential +1
- Oilers in October 2017: 1-2-0, goal differential -1
- Oilers in October 2018: 1-2-0, goal differential -5
- Oilers in October 2019: 2-0-0, goal differential +2
The Oilers have a chance to break through and create a new dawn by winning tonight. In spite of having the world’s best player, Edmonton hasn’t started a season 3-0-0 during the McDavid years. It could happen tonight.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM OCTOBER
- At home to: Vancouver, Los Angeles (Expected: 1-1-0) (Actual 2-0-0)
- 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: 2-0-0, 4 points after 2 games
Edmonton’s four game road trip is a one week run through New York and Chicago. The Oilers have been blown out a time or two in New York, but they mostly happen on early weekend games. That would be Saturday in Manhattan.
OILERS ROSTER
The Oilers may activate Riley Sheahan before tonight’s game, meaning someone has to move off the roster. Someone could go on IR, with Haas, Persson and Bear eligible for option without a waiver worry. They could also do non-roster waivers, or send down Brandon Manning today (I believe he cleared waivers October 1, so is still under that waiver umbrella). That’s risky, because any injury during the day to a defenseman would leave the team short on blue.
OILERS PENALTY KILL
Early season numbers for five-on-five are unreliable, so you can imagine how shakey the PK numbers are this time of year. However, I think time on ice is always a good place to start. Here are the forwards, this is sorted by total ice time over two games, with TOI per game (in brackets):
- Leon Draisaitl 5:33 (2:46)
- Jujhar Khaira 4:25 (2:12)
- Nuge 4:10 (2:05)
- Markus Granlund 3:36 (1:48)
- Colby Cave 2:36 (1:18)
- Josh Archibald 2:33 (2:33)
- Patrick Russell 1:40 (1:40)
Archibald and Russell played one game, the other five played two. The only GA allowed by the PK was the broken stick Doughty goal, forwards were Khaira and Nuge. Archibald’s contribution in this area was large in game one. We can see the importance of getting Riley Sheahan back in the lineup, that Draisaitl total is significant. Here’s the blue:
- Oscar Klefbom 8:37 (4:18)
- Kris Russell 7:52 (3:56)
- Darnell Nurse 4:49 (2:25)
- Adam Larsson 3:31 (3:31)
- Ethan Bear 0:57 (0:57)
Nurse and Klefbom were on the ice for the Doughty goal, Nurse being a better door than window (he also redeemed himself by scoring the tying goal minutes later). Larsson’s absence is a big damned deal, interesting the team moved Bear into the rotation over Matt Benning.
ILYA KONOVALOV
The man has been up and down this year. He had a big game on the weekend, stopping 31 of 32 against Avangard Sunday. In his strong games, Konovalov has SP’s of 100, 100, 92.3 and 96.9. In his poor outings? 85.7, 86.2, 78.6 and 81.8. He is now at .899 and appears to be digging out from the very difficult start.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
We roll into the studio with our Beatle wigs and leather jackets at 10 this morning, TSN1260. Jonathan Willis from The Athletic will guide us through the Oilers-Islanders preview and Andrew Peard will update the Oil Kings road trip. Plenty of football and baseball talk, too. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
You’re right of course. Didn’t think of that. Flames steal a point.
You’ll have to explain this
If Lucic has to fight every second game to be relevant he’s going to be pretty beat up come Christmas time.
New for The Athletic: Oilers are 3-0 and James Neal is scoring at will. Meanwhile, several unproven players earning NHL jobs and increasing roster quality and depth. No balance photo, but some traction early.
https://theathletic.com/1275672/2019/10/09/oilers-winning-games-several-unproven-players-earning-nhl-jobs/
He looks like he belongs in the top 6,
Which is just great all by itself.
He makes smart plays & creates offensive sorties.
Nicholson should promote that Ken Holland guy to GM
Maybe it has something to do with the forever winter in which you currently reside.
Take a vacation some place warm, & try not to be so abominable
I think you are probably right about that, the first touch was not reviewable.
The first time he whacked it was a high stick so it should have been blown down when he touched it next, no?
I can’t think of 5 players in the league that I would trade Draisaitl for.
I’m sure that’s the rule for at least 60 years. Maybe the first high stick is not reviewable only the second one that results in the goal or maybe Toronto was still in mourning after losing 2 in a row and they’re still drunk.
When you play the puck, your stick must be below your shoulders. When you shoot the puck, your stick must be below the crossbar. With Tkachuk’s 1st touch, his stick was clearly above his shoulders, in violation of the first rule. His shot was not in violation of the second rule but play should have been whistled dead before that due to him playing the puck with a high stick.
That’s my understanding anyhow.
Jurco looked great to me. Led the fancies and made some slick high IQ offensive plays I thought.
One game, 82 game grind, all that jazz….we wait.
These wins are making me thirsty.
Because Tkachuk.
Both carry some blame.
All this winning is making me feel uneasy. After the past decade of darkness, imposter syndrome is deeply embedded in my Oiler psyche. I no longer know how to be happy.
The Pacific is there for the taking…
Two goals for, none against.
He made some good plays, he’s keeping his head above water at the moment. To me Ethan Bear is much more impressive, I love how smart he is with body positioning defensively. He is calm but quick moving the puck, too. Persson’s stride looks a little awkward.
Chiasson doesn’t fit their MO – I was thinking that Yamamoto would be a perfect fit.
SwedishPoster,
Any info on Broberg? If it was posted recently I’ll go take a look
And around 6 of those minutes on the PP which is less draining.
By no means perfect but there seems to be more guys who can create stuff this season. Out of McDrai they probably won’t be factors every night but between them there should be some contribution in the good end most games.
All four of Holland’s longshots Nygård, Jurco, Haas, Persson(not signed by him but given a clear opportunity) looks like could at very least be ok NHLers and all if them with some ability to create stuff beyond just meat and potatoes survival hockey. Early days and they are still in the maximum focus portion of their stay, the truth will reveal itself once the grind sets in and you need to show well during your 80% nights. Bear is in a similar situation. However between the euro signings and Neal trade Holland looks real clever thus far. I mean with the longshot guys you probably hope for maybe two out of four being NHL mainstays and it’s a good haul. We’ll see down the line but early signs are good.
Also great that Koskinen had solid start, didn’t have to make a lot of massive saves but looked like he was positioning well and couldn’t do much on the goals.
And Neal! His shot is just so quick and accurate it’s amazing to watch, makes it look easy. Hope they show video of him to the guys in Bako, a guy like Maksimov could really benefit from seeing him up close.
I just checked the TOIs for the flames vs kings game tonight….Lucic got more PP TOI than Johnny and Shawnny
The way I understand the rule….When he batted it the first time, it’s a delayed high stick….linesman’s arm goes up….if the opposing team is next to touch the puck the arm goes down and play continues….when tkatchuk touched the puck the 2nd time the play should have been blown dead
Genuine question. Why is it a high stick? He batted at the puck twice, which was actually an amazing feat of coordination. While the first swipe was clearly too high, when he knocked it into the net, it was clearly not a high stick.
I am happy. Thrilled with the game tonight. Doesn’t stop me from being right. Just because I have an opinion on the team doesn’t change my happiness with the win.
Have you tried just worrying about yourself? Maybe that’s a point you should ponder
It’s like the 3 L’s of business,
To succeed in hockey you need the 3 G’s
It was nice, but clearly a High Stick…why wasn’t this reviewed and called back?
That’s rich coming from you.
Really!
You’re going to go with that!
Ha ha ha!
Very happy. Icing on the cake is that the big 3 only played 20 mins or so (21 for Drai) this game – that is a sustainable number.
Small sample size, still a big smile.
That’s evil and I love it. ?
Please tell me it is a straw hat.?
Why can’t you be happy with Jurco. Is it not possible that he is the real thing and is now healthy! Doesn’t the negativity drag you down. Be happy, enjoy the moment. Life is short.
It’s a long way to #Tippettary. It’s a long way to go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pddW-HeHAwo
You need to chill.
Karlsson:
3 gm 59:19 ev min; 5.06 evga/60; 0.00 evg/60
Burns
4 gm 75:55 ev min; 3.95 evga/60; .79 evg/60
Vlasic
4 gm 64:24 ev min; 6.52 evga/60; 0.00 evg/60
I offered to bet HH that Reider wouldn’t score 10 goals this year. Crickets.
Oh ya. There’s miles to go for young Bear. Just crossing my fingers and hoping. But it does happen. Hope it happens for the Oil this time. If you look at the Islanders defence, their top four is all young, but even then, they’re 25 years old. Bear is still only 22. Who knows. Maybe defence actually becomes a strength for this team down the road.
Young un when Draisaitl needs to be the difference he answers the bell. Be grateful we have him on our team and stop the cheap shops, please!
They didn’t generate shots and I recall them being hemmed into their end a few times.
Even better, Marleau will probably outscore Ferland at 1/5 th the price.
I missed that. I’ll have to rematch the sequence. Just saw Granlund late to the goal scorer.
Not only did the Oilers smoke the Flames on the Lucic-Neal swap, but they also tricked them in preseason into thinking Reider can be redeemed.
We have what look like two nice fourth lines, and at even strength our second line looks just okay. I do think the Oilers look like they support the puck better in all three zones and it’s nice to see a few more tape to tape passes from the blue.
Looks like we are riding the PDO pony a bit and I will enjoy it while it lasts, but we are lacking skill up front. Damn shame we didn’t have someone a bit more bonafide than Jurco for that second line.
Noah Dobson will be the goods.
Barzal line in the third, plus their Corgis don’t bark. They should switch Russell with Chiasson and Granny with Russell.
oilersfan,
There you go!
Flames lose twice today!
Woohoo at least they lost in OT
Sucks they got the point though
Doughty even scored 20 seconds after I posted that lol
Unreal play by Tkachuk to tie it up but at least they lose in OT.
The flames come backs on home ice are absolutely crazy
I hate them so much I even want Doughty (spits) to score on the PP here