I was a much younger man in 1983 and 1984, when the New York Islanders came to town for the Stanley Cup Finals. I remember both series like it was yesterday. The upstart Oilers full of youth and skill, the rugged, veteran Islanders with savvy mixed with nasty. They remain two of my favourite playoff series ever, and can be viewed credibly as two chapters of the same book. The new kids went to school in the first series, age and injury caught the fantastic New York side in the final stanza. Wonderful, anxious, physical, skilled, glorious hockey. Music!
The Athletic article today is about Brett Kulak’s fantastic start to the season, and the Oilers coaching staff’s decision on where to deploy him. Article is here.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER
- At home to: NJD, VEG (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-2-0)
- On the road to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: NYI, NAS (Expected 2-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: TOR, MTL, OTT (Expected 1-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: MIN, NYR (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: UTA, COL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 8-5-0, 16 points in 13 games
- November results: 1-2-0, 2 points in 3 games
- Oilers in 2024-25: 6-7-1, 13 points in 14 games
I have the Oilers winning the two home games and then running into some troubles on the eastern Canadian trip. However, this club traditionally falters against the easybeats and then flourishes against the lauded. We’ll see. It would be fab to come out of November with a winning record.
PLAYING DEFENSE
Darryl Sutter: “The big thing in today’s game is you have to be able forecheck and backcheck, and you have to have the puck. You can’t give the puck up. We don’t play in our zone, so there’s not much defending. I’ve coached in three decades now and this stuff where they said Marian had to play in Jacques’s system is a bunch of bull-crap. The game’s changed. They think there’s defending in today’s game. Nah, it’s how much you have the puck. Teams that play around in their own zone think they’re defending but they’re generally getting scored on or taking face-offs and they need a goalie to stand on his head if that’s the way they play.”
I worry a little that the Oilers will get caught up with the idea of ‘playing defense’ instead of ‘own the puck’ and Mr. Sutter’s words fit into any conversation about defense.
The top pairing of Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard are a splendid example of not playing defense because the puck is heading north, under control. Bouchard has had some tough moments this season, but has established himself as an impact five-on-five player. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, Bouchard owns a 64 percent goal share and expected goal share when playing five-on-five with Connor McDavid. Bouchard’s goal share and expected goal share without Connor McDavid in those seasons are 57 percent and 58 percent, respectivelly. Mattias Ekholm’s numbers are similar. The coaching staff correctly keeps this tandem together and they are a key to Stanley Cup hopes. Don’t let the Bouchard haters get you down. He’s bona fide.
I wrote about Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak in The Athletic piece above, and in a small sample this pairing looks very good. Early days but if this works Kris Knoblauch will deserve coach of the year honors. These two men can skate, man, and that’s a big deal. Kulak is playing great hockey, and one hopes this pairing is effective together through the end of June.
Ty Emberson is emerging now, he’s a unique defenseman. He can hit like a truck, he can pass and join the play and is a pain in the ass to play against. I worry about a player at his size playing this style and staying healthy, but for me the play here is for Stan Bowman to find a veteran LH blue to partner with Emberson on a third pair.
A busy afternoon on the Lowdown, Sports 1440 beginning at noon. We’ll check the waiver wire at noon, Rachel Doerrie from ESPN and Betalytics will join us to talk Nurse-Kulak and Oilers expectations, and Daniel Nugent-Bowman at The Athletic will have the latest from the rink as the Oilers prepare for the game tonight against the Islanders. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio; Radioplayer Canada, we tweet out the show after it’s done and you can catch us on Apple and Spotify.
Not too much to say about that one. It has become the way of this team and tonight showed who they are. Connor was magnificent. Leon amazing. Bouch and Ek pretty good. Kulak good. The rest was pretty meh. Don’t critique a win too much, but geez they love doing things the hard way.
I actually see Stu make a lot of little mistakes or misreads that don’t end up in his net. Tonight was no exception. I’m rooting for the guy but he has to be better.
Probably lack of trust of the players in front of him to provide simple coverage.
Lee was 5 ft out dead center and nobody got a stick on him! Just atrocious awareness and communication. Way too much focus on the puck carier – this must be how they are coaching them because it keeps happening!
Thus is a weird team. They may set franchise lows for shooting %, hits, penalties drawn, and save% at this rate.
Reminds me of 06.Just need to get to the deadline in the playoffs so they can pick up Roli, Spacek, and Dicky T to shore up the G and D.
I can definitely relate to that feeling. I remember being so frustrated watching games at this time of the year in 2005 where they outplayed the opposition but weren’t getting results. Friggin Conklin… I will say that I still believe in Skinner, but a Spacek would be nice. And a Roli-type backup?
Interesting, in my mind it was Conks but 4 goalies played that season and 3 (Mike Morrison, Jussi, and Conks) were equally bad with SPG .880-.884.
Skinner is now down to .881 and Picks is at .886. If the Oilers were not so dominant this season, Skinner’s goaltending would be as big of an issue as Campbell’s was the year before.
Morrison was the shootout specialist! Wild times.
It’s not just the G. The coverage breakdowns are glaring. Every goal was an uncontested shot. These coaches have to get their D zone in order. It’s embarassing. Is Jacques Lemaire still alive?
I hear you. But how many breakdowns did NYI have tonight that didn’t end up in the back of the net? They freakin turned it over to McDavid to set him in all alone for 2 chances before anyone even got to him!
I am not trying to pile on, but my son’s goalie on their U11 team makes that save on the 3rd goal that Skinner allowed most times, and it’s usually through a little scrambling and awareness
I keep hearing and reading about over-passing – the Oilers lead the league in shots on net at 5 on 5 (and shot attempts) – and that was before tonight.
I wouldn’t say overpassing, but I would say passing up good shots/chances for hope passes. Getting a decent look, but then passing it away. This team does take a lot of shots though.
There were several prominent moments tonight where I espoused they were trying to pass the puck into the net. Gave me shades of the DoD.
Frustrating, but they got two points so on to the next one.
999!
I love smart hockey. The line before set up the goal ragging it for a minute then executing the change. Ekky started it and Nuge heads up to finish.
97 29 2 vs 3 guys out for over a minute and a half.
Smart smart smart.
The scoring play was
Draisaitl from McDavid from Bouchard from Hyman from Nugent Hopkins from Ekholm.
The first trio earned 3rd, 4th, and 5th assists.
Two Words:
Leon
Rocket
Hyman had a great 0 point game.
Great team effort overall, though
Incredibly frustrating parts were the Oilers trying to play like the globetrotters, and Skinner making no timely saves.
Wow! This win brought to you by two of the best payers in the NHL!
Draisaitl tied for league lead in goals, McDavid 1 point from 1000. Wooooot
BOOM!!! Drai fits it into the bird hole!!!
in·ev·i·ta·ble
/inˈevidəb(ə)l/
adjective
certain to happen; unavoidable.
That’ll do.
That was the most dominant two minutes of OT I’ve ever seen.
Oilers DESERVED two points – should have had both in regulation but they fought through a high end tending performance vs. a mediocre performance.
That was a sick, sick, beautiful OT shift and goal.
That was just wonderful.
Great to take that game back as well after almost giving it away.
SHOOT HIGH!
It’s almost as if they have an awful coach advising them to shoot low somewhere in the org. It is too consistent to not be a thing.
And a high one wins it.
It’s so obvious. Every goal scored tonight in the top half.
The pads are way too big on these guys to even bother down low for anything inside 20ft
Leon heard you.
Up by two in the third period you have to win the game in reg time.
I’ll take the up coming extra time win but very disappointing not to get the regulation win – bordering on unacceptable.
Oilers are going to be in pain until 2025 – when playoffs beckon then they figure that they will finish taking care of business.
Whether they manage that is the question.
How are the Islanders still in this game? Sorokin or Skinner?
Not a great shot choice by Hyman there.
Skinner needs to make that save. Slow to react to the pass out front. Ends up spinning sideways as puck goes in.
What a deflating goal. Sure hope it doesn’t go to a shoot out…..
It’s bizzare. Almost every goalie gets a save % bump playing the Oilers.
How many shots were in the top half of the net though?
And Where did NYI score their goals?
Let them hang around. We had chances to bury a lesser opponent and didn’t. Again. Came back to bite us. Again.
As usual the Oilers are getting goalied.
Shots close to two to one. I think a strong backup would be the best trade, and then run a three-headed monster and give the net to the hot hand.
Just leave one of their only good players open twice.
WTF Mattias???
No big save made.
No “bad goals against” but essentially zero plus saves made – sigh.
Has not stopped a single one he shouldn’t imo. The other guy certainly has.
well maybe later in the year he’ll be making that save… maybe
So uhhh… how’s Olivier Rodrigue lookin’ lately?
I don’t understand why the other goalie in the AHL is a career minor-league guy with no chance of helping in the big
I believe Rodrigue’s number look good .929 ???
Bouch and Ekholm are up around 35 shot attempts for at 5 on 5 (and 70%).
Ek has 11 individual shot attempts at 5 on 5.
No chance for Skinner. Three missed assignments, there….
Disagree, he literally pulled his left pad OUT of the way.
At some point, NHL goalies need to make some difficult saves. For reference, Sorokin.
Some serious standing around on that GA.
That won’t get Jeff Skinner elevated……
Podz is a mix of Foegele, Puljujarvi and Yamamoto!
Three questionable sets of hands and hockey sense combine to form a fourth set of questionable hands and hockey sense!
Haha, we need another player in there to explain where he got that overhand right from.
Mcdavid is the best
He got away with one. That was a trip.
It was a goal and his 3rd point of the evening.
BOOM!!! McD with a sneaky trip and a great backhand!!! He’s owed a few of those!!!
Meh, McDavid’s stick was there for the puck and the dude skated over it.
Not a penalty but still lucky it wasn’t called – it could have been and often is when it results in a scoring chance.
Plenty of time for Connor to get two more tonight.
Surprised that wasn’t a penalty, but a beauty goal by McDavid.
Well, that was a nice finish…….
It’s bizzare. Pretty much every G facing the Oilers gets a save % bump by the end of the night.This is game 16
.906?
Sorokin was .912 coming in.
GREAT stick there by Bouch – thanks goodness.
BOOM!!! Bouch finally deposits it! lol Whst a bullet!
It’s amazing because Sorokin was square to the shooter,must have been screened. Great shot.
He got it off the ice. Something we haven’t done a good job of, tonight. Accurate lazer
Well, that was a shift.
They earned that one.
Hell of a shift.
All of the sudden they lost their focus.
Weak stretch pass attempt there off the faceoff
Looked like Hyman? with the poor pass receive that started that break.
Then Nuge had it in nuetral on the back track.
Good shot though
Pretty slow developing cross-seamer there – seemed to be time to get across but but the shooter did label it right under the bar. Great shot.
You had the first part right. Skinner didn’t read the play very well. It wouldn’t have gotten past Sorokin.
We were so spread out, there…Gotta be sure before you break, guys. Anyways, probably the wake-up call we need to up the urgency.
Ekholm may be my favorite player.
It just seems that they are over-passing. Need to shoot the puck, hope for a bounce or hurt the enemy blocking it.
They play on the perimeter 5v5 like the PP’s do
Have to get inside
Meh, they’re second in the league in high danger chances. They’re pretty good at getting it to the inside. They’re slowly working their way out of the PDO basement. It’ll come.
They attempt so many low percentage plays. The few that hit end up on the highlight reels though