The Oilers won a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, despite being outshot 34-22 and losing the possession battle so badly Natural Stat Trick had to replace the fuses.
Zach Hyman scored two huge goals to keep Edmonton in the game through two periods, and then the rest of the group remembered there were two ends of the rink and things started firing on all cylinders.
This was a tough game for the Oilers, they were badly outmanned due to the youth on defense. They won it, with great help from goaltender Mikko Koskinen and the skilled men coming through in time.
December starts well. Interesting plot twist.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2021
- DNB: Brendan Perlini subscriber Q&A
- DNB: Oilers turn to Markus Niemelainen
- Lowetide: The Oilers won often in November, but is their roster built to keep winning this way?
- Lowetide: The Oilers’ prospect pipeline has produced 2 call-ups on defence this season. Who’s next?
- DNB: What I think and what I know about the Oilers through their first 20 games
- Lowetide: How promising is the Oilers’ Russian prospect pool?
- DNB: Could Leon Draisaitl score 50 goals in 50 games?
- Lowetide: How the Oilers most pressing needs have changed since the offseason
- DNB: Tales from the days Kailer Yamamoto, Ryan McLeod, Evan Bouchard and Tyler Benson were minor league roommates
- DNB: For Emily Cave, Colby’s widow, a trip back to Boston is about memories, love and legacy
- Lowetide: Is the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl even better than we think? A look at his stunning historic comparables
- DNB: Philip Broberg’s first NHL game was as special as he’d hoped
- Lowetide: Philip Broberg is ready for his NHL audition
- Lowetide: Why Kailer Yamamoto is still on the Oilers’ No. 2 line
- Lowetide: Three auditioning Oilers who are finding their groove and hope to find their place
- Lowetide: Should the Oilers move Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the 3rd line?
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- At home to: PIT (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: SEA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: LAK, MIN, BOS, CAR, TOR, CBJ (Expected 3-3-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: SEA (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: ANA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: LAK, SJS, CAL, STL, NJD (Expected 3-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 8-7-0, 16 points in 15 games
- Actual December results: 1-0-0, 2 points in 1 game
- Oilers in 2021-22: 16-5-0, 32 points in 21 games
I see Edmonton’s toughest games this month as being Minnesota, Boston, Carolina, Toronto, then Calgary and St. Louis at the end of the month. I saw this as being a tough one too, and of course it was but this team won it. After tracking them for several years, difficult to trust the winning at these levels. Kraken are crackin’ right now, some danger there, too.
OILERS AFTER 21 GAMES IN THE MCDAVID ERA
- Oilers in 2015-16: 7-13-1, 15 points; goal differential -9
- Oilers in 2016-17: 12-8-1, 25 points; goal differential +10
- Oilers in 2017-18: 7-12-2, 16 points; goal differential -18
- Oilers in 2018-19: 10-10-1, 21 points; goal differential -8
- Oilers in 2019-20: 13-6-2, 28 points; goal differential +13
- Oilers in 2020-21: 13-8-0, 26 points; goal differential +11
- Oilers in 2021-22: 16-5-0, 32 points; goal differential +21 (via Woodguy)
This is a step forward compared to all previous seasons, and the Holland-Tippett years are the three best years in the group. I understand the playoff disappointment but there’s nothing the team can do about it in December beyond winning regular-season games. This team is very good at it. PS, I don’t remember how I figured out the goal differential, but we’re using Woodguy’s for this year.
Goalies
Mikko Koskinen stole another one, he’s delivering in a big way. He stopped 32 of 34, .941 and has a 12-2 record, a 2.82 GAA and .914 SP for the season. He’s tracking his fine 2019-20 season currently and is No. 22 in save percentage among qualified NHL goalies.
Defense
Russell-Barrie played 19:58, going 8-15 shots, 3-1 goals and 2-2 HDSC. Russell was honoured for his shot-blocking record, I thought it was a nice touch by the organization. The GA was the Blueger goal early in the second period, it began with a screamer pass by Barrie to Hyman at the far blue line that wasn’t caught cleanly. A quick turnover resulted in a three-on-two with speed. Both Russell and Barrie backed in too far, allowing multiple options and the goal. Russell had an assist on the Yamamoto goal, and four (!!) giveaways. He also put in 3:55 on the PK, Penguins had just four minutes so he was basically out there the entire time. Barrie made a key play in the game, sending a tippable pass that Yamamoto got his stick on for the game winner. Both men played over 26 minutes in total to lead the team.
Lagesson-Bouchard played 11:25, going 4-5 shots, no goals and 1-2 HDSC. Lagesson had three shots, a HDSC, one of those damnable puck over glass penalties and battled. Bouchard created some drama by turning over the puck a couple of times in bad, bad places and was slow making a decision in what could have been a dangerous play if Koskinen had failed to freeze the puck. On the other hand, he scored a terrific goal and added an assist. Young defensemen yadda yadda yadda.
Niemelainen-Broberg played 7:16, going 1-4 shots, 0-1 goals and 1-2 HDSC. Niemelainen deflected the first goal, I believe, but other than that he had a clean (if one-sided) slate. He had a good run with Bouchard somewhere in there, and had five hits. Broberg played well, blocked a couple shots and had one reasonable look. I thought he might get some time higher in the lineup but it never came. Would like to see him play a game with Bouchard before he heads back to Bakersfield.
Forwards
Nuge-Draisaitl-Yamamoto played 7:49, going 3-1 shots, 0-1 goals and 2-1 HDSC. The goal against was a lost faceoff, some confusion about who the checkers should dance with, and then a tipped shot. Nuge had two shots, created a couple of chances and drew a penalty. Draisaitl had an assist (gorgeous pass), two shots, a HDSC, had a takeaway. Yamamoto scored a huge goal, had two shots and a HDSC. Yamamoto’s goal came when he was on the ice with McDavid and Hyman, a trio that saw the ice for 4:22. Something to ponder.
Hyman-McDavid-Kassian played 7:06, going 3-7 shots, 2-0 goals and 0-2 HDSC. This line ran some luck for sure based on the underlying numbers, but there was nothing about Hyman’s goals that involved luck. What a player! He could have had the hat-trick a couple of times, suspect he’ll get it at some point this season. McDavid had a big night, going 1-3-4 with a couple of HDSC’s and a penalty drawn. He’s a phenomenal player. That little bounce pass to leave Sidney Crosby looking like Travolta in Uma Thurman’s living room while Gary Puckett and the Union Gap rambled on was iconic. Kassian was unable to hit the scoresheet.
Foegele-McLeod-Puljujarvi played 6:37, going 1-7 shots, 0-0 goals and 0-1 HDSC. I didn’t like this line at all, after having enjoyed their recent performances. Didn’t get scored on that’s a positive, but got away from what has worked in the last few games. Foegele had a takeaway, McLeod a blocked shot and Puljujarvi an empty net assist. If this line can’t do better, there’s zero use lending it JP. Added to a pedestrian Kassian performance and we’ll see if there’s a shuffle.
Benson-Ryan-Sceviour played 4:07, going 1-1 shots, no goals and 1-1 HDSC. Benson took a penalty for running over Tristan Jarry who was in his crease (and did stick out his wing, but that’s going to get called), Ryan had a good chance, a takeaway and two clean PK minutes. Sceviour had a couple of shots, two HDSC, drew a penalty and had one GV and one TK. He played well.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
TSN 1260 at 10 this morning, we have a great show planned. Chris Johnston, TSN Insider and columnist for The Toronto Star joins us to talk Olympics, increasing Covid-19 totals and Ken Holland’s approach to the recent injuries on defense. At 10:40, Sebastian Cossa of the Edmonton Oil Kings will join us to talk about his WJ invite and the big trade yesterday that brought Kaiden Guhle over from the Prince Albert Raiders. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!!
Kings knock off the Flames in regulation. Book it!!
Well, sadly, this didn’t age well. Need to upgrade those bookmaking skills there, brother.
.
Hey LT, thanks for the McDavid years record comparison. Love it!
Love seeing those 3 year averages (that’s my preference for tracking team growth in the regular season, to smooth out the variability in any given season) increase with every year!
I do think that the playoff dam will eventually break, and that success will be significant when it does.
“Edmonton Oilers Jesse Puljujarvi files trademark application on Bison King”
https://oilersnation.com/2021/12/02/edmonton-oilers-jesse-puljujarvi-files-trademark-application-on-bison-king/
Jesse better not come after my photoshop for trademark infringement
https://imgur.com/gallery/JKqNkWw
This man is genius. Let’s hope in 20 years it becomes legend.
Ha! Thank you for this.
Eichel skating.
https://www.nhl.com/news/golden-knights-eichel-skating-after-neck-surgery/c-328566144
Pretty crazy he can turn it around so quick after something like a neck disc replacement. It sounds like something you’d be in traction for months with.
Early days regarding Eichel but Buffalo will likely rue the day they didn’t agree to this surgery.
Random observations from last night:
I think the vast majority of us would have been very happy with a .914 SP for Mikko at the beginning of the year, but what matters more is his 12-2 record.
Also nice to see the Oil beat a goalie who was red hot coming into the game. Jarry had been 1st star in all of his last 5 previous games. Has that ever happened before? Pretty amazing feat.
I’d presume that Brian Boucher had 5 straight shutouts he may have been.
Mr Smith made me think: OK, so if Tippet thinks that the ‘keep ’em to the outside, who cares about low % shots’, is going to work, let’s roll the dice again.
I still think he has to get them developing some sort of effective cycle, meaning plays to the scoring areas with a player available. Which is different than banging around in the paint, I mean purposeful plays better than to the point or ringing back and forth.
Agreed on this. I’d also have them watching the tape of that 2nd Winnipeg game over and over again, trying to replicate what they did there. The key seemed to me coming out to finish their checks and dominate.
I agree that the team needs to continue to develop their off the cycle chance game and become less reliant on rush chances and fast break chances. Tip mentioned they are #1 in the league in offensive possession time but I’m going to presume they are nowhere close to the top for chances and high danger chances created off the cycle and offensive zone possession. I think Sportlogiq has that data.
With that said, to your post above, I’m not sure what that has to do with how they are defending and the premise that lots of shots against isn’t necessarily a bad thing if they aren’t dangerous shots?
I think sometimes they still look for too perfect of a play off the cycle. Shoot the puck, crash the net, even for the McDavid line. Their PP is excellent at getting shots through and creating havoc.
Smith mentioned teh fire Tip crowd, I have been concerned with how the team is progressing in the key areas of play. They aren’t very good, the talent is what has tehm winning, not team play – playoffs are my main goal. Their’s too of course, but team play is key to winning then.
So if I give Tipp the way he has them defending, I still think their cycle game needs a lot of work. Rush teams don’t win in the playoffs the deeper they go. Too easy to shut down.
All the “fire Tippett” talk has left me wondering: of every coach ever fired mid-season, which was coaching the team highest in the standings?
Adjust for different league sizes however you like–winning percentage, percentile ranking, etc.
Actually better qualify it as “fired for reasons not totally independent from team performance”, or Quenneville might be the easy “winner”.
Gerard Gallant from the 19/20 season. He was 24-19-6. They had dropped 4 games.
He was also fired from Florida with an 11-10-1 record in 2017.
I believe he is also in consideration for the “fired for reasons not totally independent from team performance” or “saying things that can never be taken back” award.
Tipps needs to lose about 25 games in a row for Holland to fire him mid-season.
I see lots of opinions that Mikko stole that game last night which I don’t really agree with.
Don’t get me wrong, Mikko was very good last night but, for the most part, at least to my eye, he was simply “solid” – of course, there were some very nice chances that he made the save on but he simply did his job – did what was expected – saved the pucks he “should have” and a couple that were tougher.
I don’t recall a ton of high-danger, not more than Jarry faced to my eye.
Mikko stole the game in Vegas but was part of a team effort last night – a key part but this game wasn’t robbery.
In my opinion.
Well, we were getting crushed on the TNT shots on goal. Half a game was played and we had 7 shots on goal.
2 of those were icing attempts by Niemelainen. (kidding)
But I hear you – this was a game where I did not see any 10 bell chances given up by us.
And where we had multiple 10 bell chances and scored.( imo)
Tippet mentioned exactly this on post game but in a decent way.
I can agree it wasn’t a robbery, but surely a .941 SV% is not simply what was expected..
Do to Covid issues with Henderson, Condors’ game tomorrow night is a no-go but their game on Saturday will go ahead as scheduled.
Gregor with an injury update on several players over at ON.
Apparently it’s an ankle with Mike Smith- no plans to rush him with the goaltending providing results
New drinking game! Listening to Stauff, Louie is on. Take a shot for “Shooter mentality”
I am drunk!
He also prefaces a lot of statements or hypothetical dialogue between two people with “Listen…”
‘No question’ is another one his favorites
I like Louie despite his verbal habits
I would love to hear a retelling of Louie’s conversations with Jake:
“”I called up Jake, who, as you know, has requested a trade from Boston and I said, “Listen… if you want a trade out of Boston that’s fine, but the team that takes you on, look, listen, you gotta play a hard game and keep your nose to the grindstone, you need to develop a shooter mentality – no question”
And Jake says “Listen… I just need a change of scenery, look, listen, you know me, I got the shooter mentality already – no question””
Perfect. It’s a lot better than “when I was coaching Big Joe in San Jose…”
Agreed – no question!
It would be nice if Louie worked on some of his habits a bit more though.
I also like Jack as well, except when someone makes an unforced error and Jack seems to perk up and go
“This is a case of feeling pressure when there is none” as if Jack is the first one to coin the phrase. The way he delivers the line and seems to cherish every word, every syllable, and sometimes repeats it 2, or 3 times… I don’t know why, but it irks me. Especially when he prompts Louie to agree with him, as if Louie hasn’t had time to comprehend the poetry that just came out of Jack’s mouth.
Could be just me, though.
I love the horserace phrase “and down the stretch they come “ It’s definitely unique. We could do a lot worse then Louie, Jack and Gene as we already know.
Agreed.
and yeah, it’ll be a sad day when Gene leaves.
At least they have some interesting stories and are actually cheering for the team they cover unlike the reverse engineer doorknob Remenda whose go to story was how he was able to secretly sniff Jumbo Joe’s jock strap on long eastern road trips.
Or mind numbingly boring and milquetoast like the Flames or Canucks commentators.
Dude, you’re on fire 😂
I like him too.
Listen Jake, you have to go to work and get in the battle.
I love Louie. Drink every time he says “Blue Paint” and they will be pumping your stomach in the ER.
I think we have enough sayings for Louie Bingo.
*ahem*
Lingo..?
Take a drink every time you hear an Oiler player use the word “obviously” and you’ll be hung over for a week!
No human would survive a drinking game tied to Louie’s use of the word “battle.”
“Erased” is up there too
Good lord, he is like that on the radio as well.
Seems like a nice guy, but he doesn’t provide any analysis at all. Shooter and mentality are the only two words he knows.
He thinks that the reason a team has only 7 shots is because they don’t want to have shots, if only they would change their mentality, then they would get more shots..
It is a classic case of confusing cause and effect, one of the four great errors.
The “no question” really does irk me. The other one is Rob Brown (whose insight I truly love!) saying “expecially.”
I know I’m in the minority, and having met him I can say he is a tremendously kind and warm person, but as a broadcaster I genuinely do not understand what Gene is doing there. Why would cringey prop comedy and reaaaaaal stretches of puns ever be part of a professional hockey broadcast? It really is odd
The “no question” really does irk me. The other one is Rob Brown (whose insight I truly love!) saying “expecially.”
I know I’m in the minority, and having met him I can say he is a tremendously kind and warm person, but as a broadcaster I genuinely do not understand what Gene is doing there. Why would cringey prop comedy and reaaaaaal stretches of puns ever be part of a professional hockey broadcast? It really is weird when you think about it.
Both Nurse and Shore took part in optional practice today.
Last night, Tip said neither Nurse or Keith will be ready for Friday but Nurse could be for Sunday.
Nurse shooting pucks:
https://twitter.com/TomGazzola/status/1466471707280085000
The hunter versus the hunted
One of the things I dislike most about the NHL is that a good coach with a undermanned but motivated roster can create scenarios where his team can perform well enough to reduce the outcome to a coin toss.
When the players know they aren’t as talented, the coaches message truly sinks in and they commit to the system fully and completely. The Jets are a perfect example. This is a top-5 offensive team but it look being lit up by Connor and Leon a few times last year before they finally would commit to defense first, second and third before thinking about offense. And you see the result; five straight wins, playoffs and carrying over to this year.
But then the exact same thing happens to them (they become the hunted) and Vegas when they face an under-talented Montreal team. Montreal damned near won the Cup playing this way. Ultra, and I mean ultra, conservative low event hockey. The narrative is that Price stood on his head and Weber was superman but the reality is that they were never badly outchanced and damn near won the whole thing.
And we look at it as a Cinderalla story because we forget that it happens every frickin year. Bad teams win series they shouldn’t like Columbus sweeping Tampa. And then we target the losers like Kucherov (back then) and now Matthews and McDavid and MacKinnon with the “need to learn to play differently” narrative and poor decisions are made. And we make the mistake of thinking Montreal is anything other than one of 20 teams that could make a run if things break right.
All of this to say, it’s very hard to practice being the Hunter when you have 97 or 29 on the ice 50 minutes per night. It would take a phenomenal run of injuries before these players feel under-talented but guess what…that’s exactly what happened last night. The Oilers collapsed like an accordian to the HDSC area and exloded out from that area on the half-dozen occassions where the opportunities came.
Toronto is doing it this year too…as is Calgary…I watched them play each other live and the minutes just ticked away with chess-like hockey being played by fine hockey players.
But can we keep the HDSC events under control when we get back to being the more talented team most nights?
Agree, what concerns me is how we counter the collapse the HDSC area defense. Hopefully that is something that can be sorted in the regular season. I’d like to see some full strength Bouch bombs in that scenario and see if that opens things up.
I’ve never understood the “Kassian can play with skill” thing. I’ve not seen it. He can get some points when playing with skill the way most people can, but he’s slow to spot passing targets and loses most board battles. Combine that with his questionable D coverage and he actually seems like a bad person to play with skill. I guess the theory is that he should be good at puck recovery in the O zone, but I don’t see a lot of that either due to the aforementioned board battle thing.
Maybe I’m just down on Kassian in general, but I think he gets too much credit cause he skates fast and has crazy eyes. He’s a fourth liner to me. Third liner at a push.
I think the core would be ok losing the kassinator if you had a patty maroon lying around…funny he was an enforcer with soft hands..kind of an enigma…
I love Kass and I fear the liberties that will be taken on the stars once he is gone. He does have the tools to play with skill and has proven it multiple times over his career. The issue I have is the lack of consistency. Too often I see him waiting for pucks and coasting rather than going after a loose puck these days. He is the kind of player that if you don’t wake him up, he will sleep through the game.
Kassian was not good last night.
But some people believe the above because Kassian has scored 2.44 P/60 while playing with McDavid and they’ve has a 55.5% goal share together (last 3 seasons).
Results wise that’s as good/better than almost anyone not named Leon Draisaitl.
Kassian is a difficult player, in my opinion, to properly describe. He is big, fast and reckless, all three of those things have uses. He can pass and shoot, and score skill goals. He scores in bunches, but that’s true of many players. He can forecheck well and disrupt the opposition outlets.
Kassian’s big issue is attention to detail. Offensively he does thinks at breakneck speed and things can fall apart and go the other way quickly. He has NEVER been able to consistently get on the right side of his check. It’s not something he’s ever going to do and we have to accept that it’s part of his game.
I have said before, and will say again, that for a short time Kassian on a skill line can be a breath of fresh air. however, when things get stale, it’s difficult to keep him there.
When the good times are rolling, Kassian’s defensive gaps can be explained and overcome. When the goals dry up, he’s a drag on results.
He can play in the NHL, and he can play for periods on a top line. He has had two or three seasons in a row where he’s delivering enough offense to hang with the big boys.
His on-ice goal differential at five-on-five has been 50 percent twice in seven Oilers seasons.
Nice post, and I agree with basically everything you’ve said.
I haven’t and won’t argue that Kassian is an ideal top 6 forward, just that he should be in the conversation (Yamamoto is also falling shy of ideal, and I wouldn’t have considered Puljujarvi fully legit in that role until this season).
I do think that folks being up in arms when he plays top 6, and characterizing him as a 4th liner, is a bit much though. Two coaches have played him with McDavid for pretty extended periods after all, and with good to very good results.
In terms of his GF%, point taken, though you know it’s been near impossible to break even in the Oilers bottom 6 (and he has broken even when up the lineup).
It seems stints in the top 6 are becoming shorter and shorter before they become stale and a drag.
The Arizona game was good, the Vegas game was passable and, by the 3rd period of the Pit game, he was on the 4th line despite his line being 2-0 in goals.
Kassian is fast and aggressive but the man cannot win an offensive zone battle. He can get in and get a bang in but he can’t win a puck battle and he barely even tries in the defensive zone and, to me, McDavid needs a player that is more committed in the defensive zone against teams that aren’t, well, Arizona.
Kass was probably the worst Oiler last night, no?
You might want to check on the (starting) 3rd line on that one.
OK, sure. But then I look at his stats and see he’s scoring 1.95 P/60 (5th on the team). And he’s -1 at 5v5. This mostly from the bottom 6.
The numbers are somewhat pumped by McDavid (Kassian’s played a bit less than a quarter of his time with 97), but they remain at/above (rest of) team average when you isolate his time in the bottom 6.
I guess I usually try to take the big picture view on these things, and few of the numbers show Kassian to be a problem.
Maybe Kassian is the ultimate ‘saw him bad’ player?
LT, any thoughts on adding QoC context to your post game player capsules?
Particularly with this green D corps, I think it would be illuminating for the class to see how Tippett is deploying his charges.
Pronman has Bourgoult making the team although in a depth role
Team Canada WJ I should clarify
Very much like a game vs Detroit in 2006. Get heavily outcorskied but counter with speed and numbers to win
This was exactly my thought as well. Keep the shots from the outside and convert your chances to score. It was nice to see the team commitment to the game plan!
Who needs “Balance” when you can Blitzkrieg your opponents.
All your base are belong to us.
We need to take a moment here and recognize that Mikko Koskinen is in the conversation for team MVP through a quarter of the season. He’s been absolutely stellar!! We pile on him enough (myself included) when he has a wobble, but we’d be lucky to be over .500 without him stealing games. We’re missing 4 D for crying out loud!!!
He’s playing great and him being in a contract year is the cherry on top for his future moving forward.
I agree with the general premise of the point (although I don’t think he stole the game last night – he was very good but that wasn’t a robbery).
The man is going to be heading to the Olympics.
when the calendar flips to early March a couple weeks before the deadline it would interesting to see the defense pairings at:
Nurse-Ceci
Keith-Bouchard
Broberg-Barrie
Keith would ideally be better as a 3LD in the playoffs, but it’d be hard/costly to acquire a D good enough to push him down and Broberg in the 2 hole, well…coaches + playoffs = veterans. Now if Thor’s lightning can strike Klefbom’s shoulder so he can pull a Kucherov it would be happy days come playoff time.
About goal differential. My fuzzy recollection is this. A couple of years ago you noted that during the McDavid era teams started to pull goalies a lot more when losing to try and tie the game. That resulted in extra empty net goals. So to give a more apple to apple comparison empty net goals were not included. Perhaps listing both stats for each year will give a more balanced comparison.
anyhow hope that helps for what it’s worth.
Does even strength scoring, by definition, excludes 5v6 empty netters?
Don’t think so. It’s technically 6v6…the other team is just choosing to deploy an extra skater over a goalie…it’s not a man advantage
Even strength doesn’t include empty net goals.
Even strength DOES include EN goals.
5v5 does not include EN, and also does’t include 4v4 or 3v3 goals.
When you’re as talented as the Oilers are, you will win any game in which you execute at that level.
They need to remember that part of things when the playoffs come and they’re gripping the sticks too tight. Just focus on the execution. You don’t need to out-everything everyone.
Very nice having a team that can get it done a million different ways.
My go to quote for this season is this…
“Their Cup Window is Wide Open”
Bruins play by play team
Nope. The quote meme for this season is
“Hold on. It’s coming.”
Haha, for me it’s Jack’s “WHAT CAN YOU SAY?!?!”
Ok, I’m sure there is a logical answer and I’m just not thinking straight but…. how does Hyman (looking at the line stats) have 2G yet the line is credited with zero-2 for HDSC? Were neither of his goals considered a HDSC??
I guess converted goals don’t count as a chance?
I see the 1st goal as not a HDSC, but shouldn’t a 2 on 1 be?
The Naturalstattrick criteria for defining HD scoring chances is fairly inaccurate at assessing individual plays or for assessing the performance of individual players. It relies on published data from the NHL full play by play game summary. Neither of Hyman’s goals are considered rush attempts in their criteria because they occurred more than 4 seconds after the previous recorded event in the NHL stats. So that leaves them with where did the shot come from and both shots were outside their definition of a high danger area. So they are considered scoring chances, but not high danger scoring chances.
Thank you for this. It is actually rather unfortunate to learn that this is how it works as that isn’t the reality of hockey – we all know both of Hyman’s were high danger chances in the real world. But I can appreciate that they need rapid data. Guess that highlights the value of Staples and McCurdy recording their own HDSC data based on what they saw…
As Redbird explained HDSC doesn’t work and should never be referred to. It’s a meaningless number.
Far better to use scoring chances, which doesn’t exclude so many otherwise significant events.
Not sure that’s *quite* what Redbird explained..
Oilers took a 3X former championship team and, after 2 periods of rope a dope hockey exploded in the 3rd…
Like they generously were allowed to do by Pittsburgh, who themselves play a great style of cup winning hockey.
A for real great hockey game.
Colton Sceviour seems to be getting better here….I think he is finding his groove.
It was not just my eyes noticing him either – the TNT crew pointed out he was
having a good game.
I thought he had a pretty good game (watching, at least).
I had attributed it to that extra effort you see from players when they’re playing against their old team.
He’s a ex penguin so you do tend to notice those players more anyway I do. He has been playing good hockey and he can actually win a face-off he just needs to get off the schneid. Colton and Benson seem to be forming a bit of chemistry in their limited minutes.
I am a bit of a Benson fan and I like his progress but he needs to STOP taking bad penalties. He can be an excellent pest but that part of his game needs to be in control and measured.
The Refs always target 4th liners for penalties if Benson would of pushed the defenceman to spring Hyman on the first goal like Connor did he would have been off to the sin bin. It’s taken a few years but Connor is finally starting to be sneaky dirty to get separation from the sly mugging he receives. It’s not has extreme as Messier was with the elbows and Anderson with the twirling flailing stick but he’s figuring what he can get away with it.
Just a supremely gutsy performance by Russell and Barrie.
I am not big on both – but massive credit to these two for stepping up to the plate.
I actually thought Barrie was pretty good last night.
Same with Laggeson – almost sawed off the shot share.
Incredible win in my view.
Don’t look now, but Bouchard is on pace to score 51 points this season. The defensive wobbles will get ironed out with time, I certainly can live through them given the kind of production we’re seeing.
He’s 14th in the league (among defensemen) for even strength points, 21st for all strengths points and 29th for 5v5 P/60 (250+ TOI).
Only 7 defensemen have produced more shots/60 at 5v5 than Evan, only 9 have more ixG/60 and only 16 have more iCF/60.
Fantastic player.
Very much so. I even feel like we are just scratching the surface with his offensive talent.
Eg. Have not seen too many Bouch Bombs. But it is coming.
Bouchard knows he would be foolish to try too much with the games on the line.
I think Scott Wheeler had it right when he said something like Bouchard looked smooth but didn’t do anything really noticeable…and then you realize has 3 points and played half the game 🙂
Both Bouchard and Broberg…are excellent young NHL defencemen.
Bouchard is excellent. Though Tippett said he wasn’t playing great in the first two periods. Said he needs to figure out how to play solid for all 60 minutes.
And for all the talk about his skating, he had no problem out racing Marino down the ice on the 2-1.
I was actually thinking about his production at the gym this morning and that point total is even more impressive when we note that he gets zero PP1 time and very little PP time at all.
He *should* be 6th in rookie scoring, 2nd in D scoring (3 behind Seider).
Agreed, fantastic player.
yeah not bad but he’s no Rafferty ;)…
I was curious since Russell’s ice time seemed so high last night. To show just how gutsy the performance was by the Oilers and Russell:
Kris Russell is 34 with a lot of miles on him. He might be on his last legs in the NHL, maybe this is his victory lap or he has one final gear but hes not making it until 45. At the same time, he is putting in some amazing performances in some impossible situations.
He truly is the perfect 7th defenseman. He can handle small samples of top 4 action, he can play either side, and you know that he will always give 100% effort when hes out there, which is valuable at any time in the season.
Next time that someone says the Oilers have no heart, point them back to last night when they win a game that they shouldn’t have and overcame a mountain of injuries.
Well put.
Four “rookie” defenseman, two rookie forwards and the back-up goalie won a game … it is a good day
To be fair, every Oilers goalie is a backup goalie according to all the armchair GMs out there.
Like the line changes, we’ve discussed Yamo with McDavid before and I believe the (somewhat limited) TOI together in previous years backs it up.
Nuge-Drai-Jesse should be a load for any opposing team.
I agree, run Broberg-Bouchard, you’ll see better results for both than with their other partners.
Since the summer I’ve been suggesting that Puljujarvi and Yamamoto get switched, like this:
Hyman – McDavid – Yamamoto
Nugent-Hopkins – Draisaitl – Puljujarvi
All indications are that this is a superior setup to Tippett’s go-to. Let’s hope he gives it another chance Friday night.
Ha ha in other words whoever plays RW with McDavid+Hyman is automatically en route to an All Star future.
Its interesting, over the course of three years, there is only a very small sample of McDavid/Yamo without Drai – its like 55 minutes and its not great (2-4 goals) and, this year, its 1-2 goals (in a smaller sample).
I was surprised to see that given the Drai/McDavid/Yamo has always been fire (and is 12-4 goals).
Not saying they shouldn’t try that to start next game, just that I was surprised with the goal results history in the small sample.
Would like to see last night’s 3rd period momentum carried forward (it won’t).
18 – 97 – 56
93 – 29 – 13
Try it out
See how it feels
Also, rest Koskinen
Start Disco Stu
I watched the TNT feed here in the US and on Yamo’s goal, when they were checking whether it was a high stick, one commentator said he tipped it at his waist and he’s about 4 foot tall so that’s a good goal!
and…….
These Oilers are opportunistic and it’s some solace as a fan to see the tables turned from a few years ago when they ‘outworked’ other teams only to have an elite opponent score a timely goal against the flow.
At the quarter pole, looking at the Pacific, it seems the final 4 are declaring themselves with Anaheim taking that 4th spot behind the big 3. LA are a 2-3 year work in progress and Vcr should use the rest of this season to get their house in order (despite beating the sad-sack Habs and Sens). San Jose remain tweeners.
Who do the Oilers want to play in round 1?
Anaheim, so in game 6 Kassian can grab Gibson’s pad in a goal mouth scramble for Ryan McLeod to easily score the game tying goal that sends it to OT for the victory.
Moral victories never appealed to me in sports.
Real victories combined with a moral victory are the best kind.
An example of this, for me, was I believe the 2nd Hyman goal – the Oilers made a couple defensive zone turnovers but they “bent and didn’t break” and kept the chances against to medium danger which Mikko handled and then they finally got possession, went down the ice and scored.
Of course, that type of stuff goes both ways during the year but, for years, the Oilers seemed to be a team that would have a ton of pressure, couldn’t cash and then, boom, once chance against and its in their net.
Wow. For all the complaining about Tip (myself included), his three years as head coach really stand out among the McDavid years.
Honestly, I think that if he wasn’t coaching the Oilers
He would be talked about as one of the best coaches currently in the NHL.
He’s had great regular seasons everywhere he”s gone only to fizzle out in the playoffs everywhere he’s gone.
He’ll be one of the best when he can take his coaching into the playoffs and win.
I was having coach envy after the BTB against the Jets and then they promptly went 1-5. Such a fun sport this hockey
Yes indeed. Numbers are the numbers; and Tippett has the team playing well in thebReg Season amd getting to the dance.
Wasn’t that one of Holland’s mandates. Become a perrenial contender and eventually learn how to win in the Playoffs.
Love the direction the team is heading.
Edm has talent bubbling under amd we know KH will add at the deadline.
GREAT ARROWS
Benson is doing everything he can possibly do to try to stay in the NHL. I don’t know if it will be enough. But at some point somebody is going to bang in one of those nice dishes.. Scevior has been sniffing
Benson was going to score on a Sceviour pass from behind the net when Scevior was tripped (I think by the goalie) before he could get the pass out in front.
Penalties aside (i know, only 3 but they were all 200 feet from his own net, and 2 were iffy calls, but fourth liners can’t do that), he has simply outplayed Perlini to my eye.
When Shore is ready to be activated, if the other forwards are all healthy, its an easy decision, Perlini is the man waived and assigned.
Russel having 4 giveaways reflects how much he was involved in the game. It’s been awhile since he has played enough time to have 4 giveaways. We will see how long he can keep it up but Russel has stepped up huge with all the injuries on D.
First game for him with over 26 minutes since 2016 (where he did it four times) – I think it was Bruce/Dave on the post-game pod where I heard that.
I could care less about the shot metrics for Russell/Barrie last night except for the high danger which were a saw off.
They were key to the victory last night and Rusty has already earned him $1.025MM for the year.
That was a helluva win by the Oilers last night.
That defensive group against a team with some real elite talent – Crosby was -4 and, for all the shots, the high danger events were’t all that one-sided.
Pumping 5 (4 that counted) past a goalie that had given up 1 or less in his last 5 starts.
Great gutty performance last night. Credit in game coaching as well.
If you look back at the first round in 2006 versus the Red Wings, the Oil were crushed on a corsi standpoint (don’t think corsi existed then). Lots of shots from way out. But MacT had them playing tight inside giving only perimeter shots. That worked out well for us!