The Edmonton Oilers have employed some famous goaltenders over the past 50+ seasons. Jacques Plante played here, and he’s in the inner circle of any NHL goalie list of the greats. Grant Fuhr was drafted, won Stanleys and launched a HHOF career in Edmonton, his hometown.
On the other hand, the Oilers have a list of goalies who did not have success and faced difficult paths with the club.
I well remember the game Devan Dubnyk had to endure on a HNIC broadcast in Toronto (October 2013) when “the swarm” reached No. 1 on the charts. The Oilers players weren’t especially good at the swarm, and Dubnyk was left to his own devices. It did not go well. Imagine five Oilers skaters along the wall, and no one covering Joffrey Lupul (then of TML), Further imagine the puck coming to him at perfect pace in an inviting scoring position, and Lupul ripping home a vital goal. If you can hold this moment in your mind’s eye further, imagine a between periods takedown by former goalie Kelly Hrudey that involved props (SN had a gorgeous studio at that time) and universal buring of Dubnyk. It was not the best moment for Hrudey in my opinion. He is a man I respect, and goalies’ union aside, for me the verbal was a bridge too far. That broadcast crew buried him. In my 60+ years on the planet, I’ve never seen the same treatment for a TML goalie, and I saw Paul Harrison.
Stuart Skinner begins another chapter of his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Many former Oilers have had success there, including Justin Schultz and Paul Coffey. Sail on, Stuart Skinner, I believe better days are ahead for you. All the best.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- At home to: Wild, Kraken, Jets (Expected 2-1-0) 2-1-0
- At home to: Sabres, Red Wings (Expected 1-0-1) 1-0-1
- On the road to: TML, Canadiens, Penguins (Expected 2-1-0)
- On the road to: Bruins, Wild (Expected 1-1-0)
- At home to: VEG, Flames (Expected 1-0-1)
- On the road to: Flames, Jets (Expected 1-0-1)
- At home to: Bruins (Expected 1-0-0)
- Expected Record: 9-3-3, 21 points in 15 games
- Actual Record: 3-1-1, seven points in five games
- Season Record: 14-11-6, 34 points in 31 games
When we last left the Oilers, the team was on a 4-1-1 run and looking as though the group had figured things out. I promised you we would track the team’s centers in an effort to see if Connor McDavid’s trio could recover from a slow start, and to see about the third and fourth lines ability to crawl from the wreckage. Here are the current numbers, with December totals in brackets for each line:
- Connor McDavid 17-18, 49 pct (5-2, 71 pct)
- Leon Draisaitl 21-11, 66 pct (5-2, 71 pct)
- Glimmer twins 9-9, 50 pct (0-1)
- The rest 16-36, 31 pct (3-3, 50 pct)
I began yesterday’s article here at Lowetide by saying ‘they’ve got it now’ and a commentor called me on it. The Oilers do have it now, or at least did before the trade. During December, and that’s a small but important sample, the 97 and 29 solo lines are top drawer. That’s especially important for the McDavid line, since the trio was inexplicably bottom drawer for much of the first two months. Also important: the third and fourth lines are playing opponents to a draw. That’s acceptable, if less than ideal.
The Oilers are going to have several new faces this evening, some of whom may play in the game. Tristan Jarry, Spencer Stastny, Max Jones and Riley Stillman are all on the PuckPedia roster. It’s unknown how many will play, that’s more turnover than most coaches would want game to game. I slept in this morning, so will have the Condors numbers up in the next half hour or so.
HNIC games in Toronto are always loud noises. The Oilers have humbled the Leafs and vice versa. An efficient, 2.5 hour victory is what is needed. I very much doubt it will happen that way.
CONDORS
Quinn Hutson could score 30+ goals in Bakersfield this season. The record is Seth Grittith, 30 goals in 2021-22. Griffith is having a nice run here, in all areas. In terms of talent, Ike Howard is the class of the group. No question.
The Condors don’t have enough defensemen who are AHL top flight because many are injured or in the NHL. I love the effort from the group though. Mason Melman is having himself a season.
Alot more games to see if Jerry is better. Im not convinced yet if he’s going to take us to the promises land. Time will tell. But God i hate this trade. Gave up way to much. Merry Christmas everyone.
Anyone watching some of the recent Klingberg highlights with SJ?
I want that guy back on this team.
Heck of a player
The Jarry era for the next 3 playoffs has begun. Buckle up I have a gooood feeling about our chances.
Jarry wins .625 games that go to a shootout whereas Skinner is at .550. Those extra couple of points in shootouts could be the difference in us getting home ice against Vegas or L.A
4 on 3 OT PP, they move it around, Hutson up high over to Howard who takes a step in and snaps home the 8-7 OT winner.
These guys will be welcome re-enforcements in January or February.
I think of Howard as like an early deadline addition to bolster the Oilers at LW.
Summarizing!
Lafreniere scored Kamloops’ only goal tonight, his 22nd of the season. He’s now tied for 2nd in the Dub.
Berry was not a resoupient.
Prospecting takes a break until Wodin’s Day.
— asking for a friend : was that an efficient 2.5 hour win?
Jarry’s eyes actually follow the puck reliably.
That’s a good start.
Tuscon ties it up at 7 with the goalie pulled and 96 seconds left.
Poulin draws a PP (to go along with his two assists) and PP1 goes to work.
Leppanen walks the line wonderfully and then he and Marjala play pass for a bit before dishing to Hutson with an absloute lazer of snap shot from the top of the circles that knocks the water bottle off and gives the Condors the 7-6 lead.
Can Hutson pot 15 in the NHL?
Looks like it.
If he can add 15lbs of muscle – not even a question.
He’s essentially 24 – not sure he’s going to do that at this stage – its possible but he’s not a teenager.
Maybe but I really don’t know. He would have to be given legit middle six minutes which is the first issue and, of course, there is every chance that his offence simply does not translate to the next level – of course, maybe it does.
It’s absolutely amazing how fast Bowman built a gutted farm system.
and its 6-6.
Shots 31-20 for the Condors.
Both starters still in the game.
Great forecheck work and Poulin gets the puck dug out from behind the net and finds Petrov in the high slot and he rips it home to take the 6-5 lead.
Ingram experiment nit going well. 5 goals allowed on 17 shots through 2.
Poulin with his first point as he gets it to Marjala in the neutral zone and he streak and snaps one in off his off wing.
5-4.
nope, now 5-5.
I saw Stastny very good like many people are saying here. Also the best game I’ve seen from Frederic. He was moving his feet, hitting, and making plays with the puck.
Regula and Stastney were dancing with the puck all-night. Frederic quietly had a good night.
We all crap on Oiler pro scouts for good reason, but this could be a big win for them for 825k through 2027
Griffith with a nice delay and net front pass to D’Amato to tie it up at 4 (Condors were down 4-2).
Sorry, not describing the Tuscon goals – I missed all these goals talking to the wife and had to go back on shitty internet and find them.
Only so much I can do from Peru.
Griffith cross-ice to Howard on the PP and a beautiful centering pass to Marjala in the slot who buries it.
Howard with a partial breakaway but he’s closed on, puck pops of the goalie to Hutson who buries it bar down. 2-0.
If we can add Poulin to the mix he’s the sleeper in the deal. I called this the moment we got him he’s going to be well worth the 2nd. Some posters were whining about the 2nd in the deal if Poulin can play his style in the bigs he’s exactly what we need come playoffs against the Vegas’s of the world.
I don’t know if it’s already been said; Stastney and Emberson have played as a pair before with the US development team. Neat.
Aha makes even more sense now thanks
Montreal having to travel home from a little further away after blowing a 3-0 lead and going to OT. No excuses for the Oil. Pickard will need to play well
The team looked way looser tonight like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders. Let’s see how they look tomorrow against a team that can really skate. I think Leon goes off tomorrow and pots a Hatrick while getting his thousand point in style. From what I remember it was the Habs game where we came back in the 3rd over 10 years ago where Leon stepped up his game to the top level.
6-2-1 in last 9 games. And the key is that all 6 wins in regulation.
Suddenly we go from 4 to 10 regulation wins in a 9 game stretch and are right up there with some of the other playoff teams in that category for tiebreak purposes, always important in Bettman era
The boys had a little extra pep in there game tonight. I also believe Pickard see’s a great opportunity now that Skinner was the one getting chopped and not him. If Pickard can get on a run of W’s he may see another 2 year contract.
I hope that run happens first. Because otherwise there will be no contract forthcoming
The reason why Pickard looks like he just survived the guillotine is because he did. His NHL career was on the verge of being over. Pickard has a new lease on life and a happy worker is a protective worker. I expect Pickard to be laser focused as we complete a sweep on this 5 game trip.
I’m not sure where any of this is coming from except imagination. PIckard hasn’t played nor given any public interview since the trade.
If anything, I think Pickard’s job is more in jeopardy as Jarry’s recent injury history makes an upgrade more important.
Your not very good at reading a room.
LOL – says the guy who has response about 500 posts of mine over the last year with a response that has nothing to do with my post.
I’m going to stop a bit short of offering up a 2-year contract to the journeyman back who has been one of the worst goalies in the league to this point because if a speculation that he’s breathing a sign of relief because the starter got traded.
Did you see our bench tonight 1st time in a long time I seen them laughing and joking around. A game like tonight could be the turning point of the season. I guess will find our tomorrow and then the must see Skinner VS Jarry round one. Jarry should be laser focused against his old team and organization that he played for over a decade.
I thought we were talking about Pikcard, not the rest of the guys on the bench – again, there you go, changing your point because of a retort – as always?
Did you see/hear McDavid’s interview before the game where he talked about how hard it was to so say goodbye to two long time teammates that they went to battle with over the years?
I think these guys wanted to play hard for Jarry, of course, but this was no different than many previous games – they’ve been playing much better priror to tonight, celebrating goals more and having fun.
Didn’t see a lot of Jarry because the oilers were so dominant – he wasn’t that busy. But my impression of him is a much more athletic goalie than skinner. He moves very fluidly out there. Also he was communicating with the team a lot. Felt like way more than stu but maybe that’s just first game chatter.
Shame that third goal went in, he got beat twice on those cross ice pass one timers. It’s going to take some time to adjust, I feel like with his athleticism he should be able to make those saves.
I seen more way more chatter with Jarry then any time with Skinner excluding the Desharias days.
A pop fly goes up and over Ingram and in – I don’t even know what that was.
When did baby Nuge grow up? He’s listed at 192 lbs
As they score the 3rd meaningless goal after Jarry was really sharp against an earlier flurry, drops the S% below .900.
But, at the end of the 2nd, NST had xGF ~2.6 for TML and ~2.5 for EDM. He was a big part of the reason it was not 3-3, so credit to him for going in and playing solid in game 1 of the chaos that can be Oilers defending.
MoneyPuck had Jarry as 1.16 goals saved above expected tonight, NST had him at 0.8 goals saved above expected.
Draisaitl > Matthews.
Hyman > Matthews
Podkolzin > Matthews
Matthew S. > Matthews
Max Jones > Matthews. And Jones was in the press box.
Jarry rocking the 0.893 save percentage for the Oilers.
Team defense makes 0.900 a real challenge.
Good grief, can’t even enjoy a win lol
I was just making the point that even though Jarry played well, and he could not manage 0.900 behind a suspect Oilers team defense.
Jarry hasn’t had anything more then a pre game skate with his new club.
The club he came from, gave up a 4 goal lead in 10mins before losing the game.
No one calls the Pittsburgh Penguins a defensive marvel that makes their goalies look good.
It’s all about making the saves at the right time I can’t wait for Tuesday Jarry should be super motivated having spent his whole career in the steel town.
Who do we like beating more? Leafs or Flames? These days it’s Leafs for me.
It’s always been in this order Calgary-Islanders-Habs-Kings-Leafs-Nucks
As a fan from a different era, the fact that Dallas isn’t on this list mind blowing.
No one my age cares about the Kings because they don’t matter or the Isles because they haven’t been relevant since 1984.
You missed the Golden era and it was fantastic. Maybe the Oilers can pull off a surprise Cup win like in 1990. A hot Goalie can make a lot of people look like geniuses.
For me, watching the Oilers beat the Leafs is like Patty & Selma watching “MacGyver”.
I remember like yesterday the1980 8-5 win in Toronto where a 18 year-old phenom registered 6 points to take over the scoring lead.
I remember that game too. It was like Gretzky’s coming out party on HNIC. They couldn’t ignore him after that. If I’m remembering correctly Don Ashby had a hat trick and 2 or even 3 assists in that game.
It was so sad when Ashby died in a collision on highway 97. I myself have driven through Rockies so many times with a few close calls where your knuckles are white as a ghost while driving through a blizzard only way you see the road is a tailing a Semi.
Very satisfying win
They were rolling the lines and skating like the wind. I haven’t seen our D this active in awhile Regula-Stastney were actually dangerous all-night.
It’s funny whenever the Center of the Universe touts an EDM-TOR matchup as “McDavid vs. Matthews”.
Did Matthews even play tonight? So invisible out there.
Knies was the best Matthew in blue.
The guy positively oozes ambivalence.
Leppanen with a bomb from the point ties it up at one.
Hamblin with an assist on the faceoff with and Griffth with the other on the dish back.
Stastney, along with Podkolzin, was credited with a game-high 4 SOG.
Ugh. Nobody did anything, there…Let’s not do to Jarry what Skins had to endure…60 mins, fellas…60 mins…
Well played game from start to finish for the whole team.
Vasily is becoming my favourite Oiler
Love watching him play. So smart and rarely makes a mistake. He’s always making the right play. No wonder 29 loves playing with him.
And we got him for basically nothing from Vancouver. Pretty much the worst managed team for a decade now. Keep robbing Vancouver, I say. Not much left but let’s steal Sherwood half retained for Rem Pitlick and a conditional 4th.
Well, under the circumstances, I think Vancouver did pretty well in the Hughes trade.
Regula has been handling and carrying the puck more tonight than I’ve seen. Walman can take his time to heal fully!
Super impressed by Stastney in this small sample eye test…as noted by all scouts hits skating is legit but also seems to have some pretty good hockey IQ… more please!
Tucson scores a couple of minutes in – shot from the circles off the rush – meh on Ingram.
Third period effort:
Never heard of this Statsney kid but very impressed with speed enough to get back and help out Emberson then deke out a leaf beside the net to get the puck out of trouble.
Team Canada should be thinking about taking the Oilers entire top line to the Olympics.
Won’t happen but it isn’t a crazy idea.
I’ve been wanting Nuge to play 3C for the Oil but he fits so well on that line with McDavid and Hyman.
I’d like to see the Oilers target a 2C/3C in the market rather then a winger.
I’m also on the wanting to see Nuge at 3C, but I’m not sure it’s in their best interest to break up that line. If they can bring in another mid 6 center then we can have the best of both worlds.
Nurse, Hyman and McDavid showing off in front of friends and family. The GTA boys playing for keeps.
Nuge is just such a solid hockey player and Hyman’s puck luck/skills are coming back.
Its not a coincidence that this team started playing better when these guys returned to the lineup.
Savoie seems like Nuge light. He plays so smart positionally and does a lot of little things well. Good balance on the top 2 lines with 3 similar players. One driver. One forechecker and go to net front guy, one responsible puck collector.
The way the top 6 are going, when Roslovic comes back that will be such a bonus. I would honestly put him in that 3rd line spot because he can hopefully spark that line when he is up to speed. Maybe with an AHL call-up
Sit Mang when Ros comes back. He’s a plsy killer.
I thought he had his best game in a while. Coming on with same linemates for a while.
They should be piping in the Globetrotters theme for this 3rd period. Light ‘em up!!
Is Stastney a Beau Akey preview. He is such a nice skater to watch
The Stastny – Emberson pair has looked good. Stastney has made some nice, heads up plays.
I see 24, St.. and am thinking I am going to see him play a completely different style. But he has settled in very calmly
In last 4.8 games
McDavid 7G 8 A
Draisaitl 2G 10A
RNH 1G 6A
Hyman 5G 1A
Podkolzin 4G 1A
Savoie 3G 1A
15 points from 97 is obviously a good time, but I’m more excited by those bottom three names’ 12 goals.
BOOM!!! That goal brought to you by Hyman not quitting!
WE WANT TEN!
Oilers going to net and getting puck there.. getting some luck as a result