The Edmonton Oilers looked a step slow and indifferent for much of the first period Monday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. After that, it was all Edmonton, who won the goal share 5-1, the shot share 38-11 and the HDSC’s 13-2. Plenty of high performance Oilers on the night, and a moment of high drama when Connor McDavid met goal post. Overall, a big win before a road trip, the club ends a long opening home stand 3-3-0.
THE ATHLETIC!
- Lowetide: Are the Oilers finding chemistry with their skill lines?
- Lowetide: 5 Oilers prospects delivering exceptional early performances
- DNB: 5 takeaways from the Oilers’ first 5 games
- Lowetide: Oilers’ defence depth impacted by Philip Broberg’s early woes
- DNB: Warren Foegele Q&A
- Lowetide: Did the Oilers find the right fit for winger Zach Hyman?
- DNB: Another Oilers loss isn’t ideal, but it shows why they have little to be worried about
- DNB: How the Oilers can manage Connor McDavid and star players’ workloads
- Lowetide: 6 Edmonton Oilers positives from an uneven start
- Lowetide: Can the Oilers’ AHL affiliate sustain a productive prospect pipeline?
- DNB: Oilers need Jakob Chychrun or another top-4 defender, as loss to Flames shows
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers early impressions from season-opening win
- DNB: Oilers must adapt to short-handed lineup because it’s coming again
- DNB: Oilers goalie Jack Campbell enters season intent on exceeding expectations
- Lowetide: Why Oilers’ Evan Bouchard will be a key to 2022-23 season
- New DNB: 11 bold predictions for 2022-23 season
- Lowetide: What’s Oilers prospect Reid Schaefer’s NHL ETA?
- DNB: Oilers’ missing pieces? Trade strategy? Breakout player? Mailbag
- Jonathan Willis: Jakob Chychrun would look good on the Oilers, but is there a deal to be had?
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers reasonable expectations for every player in 2022-23
- Lowetide: Oilers top-20 prospects, summer 2022
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- At home to: VAN, CGY, BUF, CAR, STL, PIT (Expected 4-1-1) (Actual 3-3-0)
- On the road to: STL, CHI, CGY (Expected 1-1-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 5-2-2, 12 points in 9 games
- Actual October results: 3-3-0, 6 points in 6 games
- Oilers in 2022-23: 3-3-0, 6 points in 6 games
The Oilers won the first, fourth and sixth game of the home stand, the only loss I projected being against Carolina. It was a strange series of games, made all the more unusual because they were the first six of the season. We tend to stare at the beginning of a year far more than other stages. We need the sample size.
SUMMARY
- Evander Kane had an impact evening, 1-1-2 and nine shots. Two TK, one GV, five HDSC and drew a penalty. He’s always involved in the game and can have a major impact, as he did Monday.
- Leon Draisaitl was 1-2-3 on the night, his backhander one of the prettiest of its type in memory. Four shots, one HDSC, 2-3 GV TK. His passes still had some risk but the big man cleaned up the worry in the final 40.
- Kailer Yamamoto had four shots, five hits and two takeaways. He had a strong look but the puck wouldn’t settle. Four shots, three HDSC.
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had another good night and is now the proud owner of a strong start to the season. At 3-4-7 in six games, this is a significant beginning. Career season at age 29? It could happen.
- Connor McDavid was slowed awkwardly by Jeff Petry, the result McDavid and Oilers fans spending several moments in quiet reflection. He did play 19 minutes but was not his usual self to my eye.
- Zach Hyman scored the game’s first goal of the game, ended 1-1-2 with four shots and three HDSC. One TK. He was involved in everything. Valuable player.
- Warren Foegele had one shot, one HDSC and hit some people. I’m liking his game more as the season progressed.
- Ryan McLeod is doing plenty every night to recommend him for a larger role. Scored a nice goal on Monday, now has three in six games. Two shots, one HDSC, did have a tough time with two giveaways.
- Jesse Puljujarvi forechecked, had a tremendous look, two shots, two giveaways and a takeaway. I think he’s underrated but needs to score enough to hang with the good centers.
- Derek Ryan had his best game of the season, gorgeous assists, four takeaways and two clean PK minues.
- Devin Shore had one shot, a penalty, and the puck was rolling in a good direction for him (2-1 shots) on the night. Last evening represented the first goal of any kind that went in while he was playing five-on-five. He’s 1-0 on the year, small victory. He’s been above 50 percent five-on-fvie goal share once in his career, as a rookie.
- Darnell Nurse played 22:23, so the Oilers backed him off in this game. Picked up an assist, a double minor and notably zero giveaways. I thought he had good coverage on his man for the Crosby goal, but he and Leon were late recognizing danger on the play. He was 1-1 goals, 76 percent expected goals five-on-five.
- Cody Ceci had another strong defensive game, and played with both Nurse and Kulak. Possibly a sign of things to come. Nurse spent over 10 minutes v. Crosby, Ceci half of that total. Tyson Barrie had 7 minutes vs. Crosby. The defensive switching out by the Oilers coaching staff is something.
- Brett Kulak had an assist, two shots, a GV and a TK. Led the team with a 3-0 in-ice goal differential and played his best game of the season to my eye.
- Evan Bouchard sent a lovely pass to Zach Hyman for the first goal of the game, six shots and drew a penalty. Edmonton 18-4 shots and 2-1 goals while he was on the ice five-on-five. Saw Crosby for just 39 seconds five-on-five and played limited minutes with 97 and 29. The result was cherry passes to lesser lights who did not cash. I’m shocked he had only one assist on the evening.
- Tyson Barrie scored a goal, had some defensive adventures but landed 2-0 five-on-five. Jumped up on the top pairing for a time. Such an interesting defense now.
- Ryan Murray was 1-1 goals, and a 47 percent expected goals. He had three shots on goal, one of which was a pretty nice look. He has screened a couple of goals lately, and defensive lapses have cost the team. He played 10:04 at five-on-five, and the rookie is catching him.
- Markus Niemelainen had one reasonable opportunity offensively and four hits on the evening. He played 9:13 and I thought pretty well.
Jack Campbell had some interference on the first goal, but it needs to be a stop from that range. The third goal was from a bad angle and an attempted trick shot that worked, goalies should have things covered. A .912 SP against a brilliant team on the run was rock solid from here.
LOWETIDE AND JAMIESON
A fun show today with Bruce Arthur and Glen Suitor among our guests 10-2, TSN1260. We’ll break down last night’s game and have a closer look at the defensive alignment and why it worked, plus the McDavid injury. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. Talk soon!
Kessel with goal #400.
Perfect!
https://www.nhl.com/goldenknights/video/t-282798380
Wow!
Shotsappalooza at MSG.
Rangers 46 Avalanche 44.
Shesterkin vs. Georgiev
Colorado wins in a shootout 3-2
Stalock having a hell of a year so far in Chicago.
He has gone through so much over the past few years, that his NHL career was over, what a great story!
Hopefully he can keep it up, but unfortunately the chances are slim. I wish him well!
Oh my.
Calgary leads Pittsburgh 2-0 after one.
Both goals from Kadri.
SOG: CAL 20 PIT 4
Why ‘oh my.’?
Edmonton broke the pens. Calgary (unfortunately) benefits.
Ha!
Penguins outshoot Flames 20-4 in the second but Flames lead 4-1
Again, pure trolling from this guy. No one cares what you have to say. All you do is show up here to highlight things you know are anti-Oiler. Please go find a life.
I actually don’t mind the occasional league-wide update from HH, so long as it’s not “here are some cherry-picked facts to show why team X is so much smarter than the Oilers.” Most visiting teams play the Flames either right before or right after us, so sometimes it’s interesting to see how that same team does against the Flames. As long as HH isn’t cherry-picking Flames victories against Oiler losses, I’m fine with it.
Archie has more Goals at league minimum than the 3M=9M gang Yamo Jesse and Foegele combined. You can’t Coach stone hands.
Dominik Kubalik.
4 goals 6 assists 10 points.
Cap hit $2.25 million.
Stone cold killer.
You can only make excuses for certain players for so long before the bullshit doesn’t stick.
Yamamoto scored 20 goals last year.
It took Archibald the last 4 years to score that many.
Keep and pay core players the rest buy low sell high.
Do you actually believe Yamo gets 20 goals this year when he’s decided not to go to the front of the kill zone.
Maybe he scores the odd goal but he gives up significantly more than he gets and always has. Same as Shore who should be dumped as well.
I just have to get this off of my chest, cuz it is an irritant.
I just read another article that used the term “original 6”, but this is wildly inaccurate. If you go back to the origin of the NHL originally there were actually only 4 Teams. The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators were 2 of the 4, (but this version of the Sens ceased operations for a year, were revived for two, relocated to St. Louis as the Eagles and folded after 1 year in 34-35).
The Toronto Arenas (~> St. Pats ~> Maple Leafs) & the Montreal Wanderers (folded after 1 year) were the other 2.
Subsequent to that initial season the league went to 3 teams for one year and I would say the vast majority of NHL fans are not aware, the league operated as a 10 team league for 5 seasons, from 1926-27 to 1930-31. The “original 6” came to be after all of the following franchises had fallen to the wayside:
Montreal Wanderers
Ottawa Sens ~> St. Louis Eagles
Quebec Bulldogs ~> Hamilton Tigers
Montreal Maroons
Pittsburgh Pirates ~> Philadelphia Quakers
New York Americans ~> Brooklyn Americans
Detroit Cougars ~> Detroit Falcons ~> Red Wings
When the Americans ceased operations before the 1942-43 season, the subsequent six were the last teams standing until the subsequent successive six signed on in 68-69.
So, say no to original six, they should be the “Subsequent Six*” (unless you want to just call it the “original one” – Canadiens, but why the hell would anyone want to do that)….
* Are there any lawyers about? If so, should I trademark this? 😀
Hey, I appreciate the pedantry.
The National Hockey Association was really the original NHL (in 1909) and should probably be counted as such. The NHA was ‘reorganized’ as the NHL just to get rid of one owner. Shades of the Montreal Alouettes turning into the Montreal Concordes with the same personnel, but suddenly no debt.
(Some would say the ECAHA was the forerunner of the NHA.)
From 1910 on, the four consistent teams were the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Quebec Bulldogs. Toronto came a couple of years later.
I know this all thanks to the Klein and Reif Hockey Compendium. They were the stats revolution of the 1980s that nobody knows about, sort of the unheralded and unfollowed Bill James of hockey. It’s what I grew up reading.
Thanks, I had forgotten about that!
I will never forget those Concordes teams and the team/owner that begat them, lol.
Thanks for the reminder, I sincerely appreciate it!
Detroit Cougars came from Victoria where they relocated immediately after beating Montreal for the cup. 1925 I think
You are sort of correct.
Many of the former Victoria players’ rights were purchased, but the team actually dissolved. The name was taken from the Victoria team, just because several (9 of the 19 players who played at least 1 gamefor Detroit in their first year) had been with that Championship team.
Phil Kessel night in the NHL.
He will seize the NHL iron man streak at 990 games and will have a chance to score his 400th goal.
Recently heard a story about Phil…
He was sitting in the weight room reading a magazine and someone started chiding him about his fitness level.
Phil got up and did a series of dead lifts that crushed everyone else in the room.
He then modestly sat down and picked up his magazine while sporting his shy grin.
I read somewhere that only three guys in the NHL can deadlift more than 500 lbs. Which is a bit surprising considering the leg conditioning they’d all need to have.
Isn’t there video out there of Nurse deadlifting 530lbs?
What’s the news on Holloway? I really thought the kid would come flying out the gate.
He is practicing, could be back in 2 games.
Woody said this morning he’s VERY CLOSE to playing
I think there is a chance he’s an option tomorrow – although Woody may not want to mess with that lineup. I’m not sure he’s ready to take Murray out and give full minutes to Niemo (although he probably should be….).
Good that Holloway is close.
I’d guess you’re right that Murray isn’t coming out yet (if Holloway does draw in it’s probably for Niemalainen).
I haven’t watched enough this year to develop a strong dislike for Murray, though he was fine last night.
I don’t know where to find TOI by period or shift details for players, but I’m 99% sure Murray played more than Niemo in the 3rd last night (I remember Niemalainen being ahead in TOI after 2, but Murray finished with more in the end). Murray played more vs. St. Louis as well, after Niemalainen pulled ahead for one game vs. Carolina.
I’d probably keep 7D in the lineup against St. Louis regardless (Holloway in for Shore wouldn’t be a difficult move either).
Niemelainen played more in the first and second, Murray more in the third. Interesting, neither man saw the PK after the first period.
https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20222023/TH020094.HTM
Thanks for that. And yes, neither player appears currently in the coaches ‘trusted’ category.
Mama Kass
I would be heartened if the Pens, coming off a loss to the Oilers and playing their 2nd of back to back with, presumably, their back-up tender starting, would beat the flames tonight.
Yes, that would indeed hearten me.
I would heartily second that!!!!
We have got to stop giving every team a lead. Last year in the nhl only 10% of games had a team come back from 2+ goals down. I know having McD and Drai overcome that on a regular basis but over a regular season you can’t ask it of them every night.
As frustrating it is, there’s value in going through it. Not many teams are capable of regular comebacks, and experiencing first hand the difference between playing losing hockey and dominant hockey in the same game is a learning opportunity and a building block to becoming what they can be
I know all of life is a lesson that we can all learn from. That being said this is not a new lesson for the Oilers and they still struggle to learn it’s better to start a game hard and defend after.
“Don’t worry, it’s coming.”
Woody says he fully expects McDavid to be available tomorrow. Said he looked good this morning. Added that he doesn’t believe people have a true appreciation for how tough McDavid is.
as long as he doesn’t drop the mitts to prove it to anyone.
********************************************
Same.
Quite simply, was a display of pure mastery of transition passing on the night. And I am not just talking about his famous pass to Hyman for the break away.
Stunning transition passes.
I know it happens. But, not too many times in my watching have I seen *such* a stark contrast between 1 intermission.
1st- Period Pens played the role of the Harlem Globe Trotters
2nd -Period – Oilers played the role of the Harlem Globe Trotters
Just odd.
The first period looked lopsided in part due to the 6 minutes of power play time Pittsburgh got. At 5v5 things weren’t so dire.
http://naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20222023&game=20094&view=limited
Every year it seems, right out of the gate, a few teams thought not to be very good get off to a better start than expected, while other teams considered contenders get off to a slow start.
After the first 6-7 games played last season, Buffalo was 5-1-1, Detroit was 4-2-1 and Philly was 4-1-1. None came close to the playoffs. Maybe those 3 teams are for real this season, who knows? Meanwhile, Colorado started 2-4, Toronto started 2-4-1 and LA was 1-5-1. Colorado and Toronto easily made the playoffs and LA got into a playoff spot by the new year and stayed there the rest of the season.
It’ll be several weeks before there is a clearer picture of how teams are settling in for the season (American Thanksgiving, I believe is the usual marker). Hopefully, this slower start for the Oilers is followed by the performance seen in the 56 game season after a slow start, and not what was experienced in 17/18 after the playoff run. I personally expect them to be fine.
IIRC Buffalo starts every season hot, but can’t hold it past 25 games or so.
Anaheim has done the same thing for the past 4-5 years – come out firing on all cylinders and then fall flat for the rest of the way. That’s largely Gibson-related, if you look at his save percentage in his first 12 games every year and compare that to the rest of the season, you’ll see he’s the culprit. This season, however, he’s been bad from game 2.
That was Bouchard’s best game as an Oiler.
Great passing and urgency in his own end.
some quick, effective, quasi-dangles too. nothing too showy/risky
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/is-rasmus-andersson-the-flames-answer-to-a-big-game-stud-defenceman/
LOL the Oilers absolutely owned him in the playoffs last year.
Surprised he didn’t have to change his name to Rasmus Connorsson.
Hahaha oh brother. Tell me this is an Eric Francis article without telling me this is an Eric Francis article.
I especially enjoyed game 5 where Andersson was on the ice for every Oilers goal against. Such a big game stud defenceman!
I noticed a few times in our end, D-man starting to make a forward pass that they then held (faking out the approaching opposition), and completing the pass to a different target forward. Opposing teams have scouted our giveaway machinery… somebody was listening to our coach regarding said giveaways. Still lots of improvement needed.
I’m wondering if a pairing of Nemo & Ceci would be a formidable shutdown pair. Then they could sort out if they want Nurse with either of Barrie or Bouchard and which partner would be best suited for Kulak.
Nurse-Barrie/Bouchard
Nemo-Ceci
Kulak-Barrie/Bouchard
Murray
Imagine what Jack Campbell’s SV% would be if the Oilers could start the games on time.
Went from “BRUCE: There It Is !!”
to
“BRUCE: Time To Go !!”
In a Vancouver minute
Two shakes of an Orca’s tail
I heard an interview with Boudreau before the season where he said anything less than making the playoffs would be a failure. Welp!
As a former ref, I was always surprised how tightly pegged in the nets are.
(of course, unless mike smith is in net 🤣)
Hope McD recovers quickly – he went in at a good clip.
Nuge – McDavid – Hyman
Kane – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Foegele – McLeod – Puljujarvi
Derek Ryan
Nurse Barrie
Kulak Ceci
Murray Bouchard
Nemo
Campbell
Skinner
This is the new default standard
Ken Holland waiting until February to decide which single asset puts us over the top
A forward – Patrick Kane
A defenseman – Jacob Chychrun or John Klingberg
Assets will be spent.
Blues placed Buchnevich on IR and signed Tyler Pitlick with the capspace.
Good for the oilers, bad for my fantasy team.
Same for mine
Really, the signed him with the roster spot they opened by the IR placement. They already had the cap space (IR placements don’t open any up, LTIR can though).
its’ league min so they can burry him.
Sure, but the IR placement didn’t create the cap space to sign him, that’s all – minor technical point.
The lead story for me this morning is Evan Bouchard’s passing. It’s starting to look like Prime Tom Brady. Kulak “snaps” it to him and all three forwards “run routes” and bang…zone entry and a scoring chance. The pace. The touch. The way it lies flat. All are 10/10.
Are we talking that one year of semi-healthy Ryan Whitney passing now? Are we surpassing that?
Last night was one of his best pro games – absolutely dynamic with the puck (and more than just his passing).
At the same time, he still has games (and stretches) where he’s off, way off, and he struggles both with and without the puck – we’ve seen that more often than not this season.
He’ll get there, but he remains highly inconsistent to my eye.
Even last night, he made a poor decision dumping the puck right in on Jarry then heading to the bench for a change. This allowed Jarry, doing his best Mike Smith impersonation, to fire it back out to Rakell, catching the rest of the Oilers off guard leading to the Crosby goal. I will say Leon could have done a better job back checking on Crosby, though as Nurse had a man covered. Since Bouchard was about 6 inches from the center line, he could waited 1/2 second and shot it behind the net with no icing, which would have been the smart play if he is changing.
He was a bit unlucky on the Rust goal since he blocked the first attempt, but I’ll bet he wishes he’d made a better play once the puck was in his feet.
He was also dinged for 3 giveaways, though I will say, this stat and takeaways are probably the most inconsistent ones on NHL.com due in large part to the subjectivity of the judgement.
x 10000
My preference is for when the puck comes to him in the neutral zone and he hits the forwards in motion – just coming out of the oppositions end. Full Flight.
Counter attack passing.
Nuge – McDavid – Hyman
Kane – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Foegele – McLeod – Puljujarvi
Whoever else they can fit with the cap space.
I wouldn’t even consider the third line to be a third line. It’s more like a 1A line, 1B line, 2 line situation.
With two of those “2 line” players still sporting a 0.00 pts / 60, I’d say they are still a 3rd line.
Like seeing a 787 with no wings.
They could even consider Ryan Macleod as the 3c & 4c. Give him some extra ice time with the fourth line wingers, give Connor a break.
I wish they would leave Mcleod between Foegle and JP for 20 games and see how that works. I think it has the makings of a great third line, and probably takes some of the pressure to play with the big boys off JP. McLeod gets PK time, and can probably pick up the odd extra shift with the 4th line wingers or after a PP ends. He looks great so far though.
I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that they are developing legitimate NHL’ers through the farm team. It wasn’t that long ago that it was just a dream.
Let McLeod drive PP2.
We have a PP2?
Rarer than unicorns but every now and then it makes a brief appearance.
Do you think maybe they should have signed Macleod to a long-term contract? He is certainly more valuable to the team than either of those $3m RWs.
There is a chance we have a Lebanc situation here where the extension terms are agreed upon and and will be inked shortly after the turn of the calendar – not saying this is the case, I don’t know, but its reasonable to think it might.
I think MacLeods camp realized he’d be better off getting to camp than not. And if he keeps performing, he’s gonna get paid eventually. And yes, they should have tried to go longer, but couldn’t afford what he’s worth under the cap. Darnell Nurse similarly bet on himself, and I don’t think he’s complaining at all about it now.
It’s 2 months until Christmas, and we’re waking up feeling better about the Oilers today.
3-3 isn’t the record we had hoped for at this point, but let’s not forget that Pittsburgh and Carolina’s only losses have come to the Oilers. Furthermore, the 3 teams that the Oilers have lost to (Calgary, Buffalo, St. Louis) are all off to great starts.
Then there’s the Canucks ….
Your right. The combined record for the Oiler’s last 5 opponents is 19-5-2. And those teams are winning on the road too. Collectively, those 5 opponents have a 10-3-2 road record as well.
Still, the Oilers need to work on playing that connected team game and managing the puck more responsibly. No team can play like the Oilers did in the 2nd period last night in every game (or even for a full game) but even when they aren’t firing on all cylinders, they need to make better decisions and concentrate on their execution more diligently. If they can do that more consistently they have the talent to win the majority of their games.
Very good point.
The D’s are not good enough to make it to the SC.
Perhaps but, of course, this was always going to be the primary position of upgrade in-season, not P. Kane or similar.
The Oilers in the first were gonna get shellacked to the third power if they continued to play that way. I didn’t really notice that they were coming on in the second except for the Yammo almost chance that he bobbled right before Connor smacked the net. The turning point was the PP goal that ping ponged into the net. We got a break and perked up. The big difference, to me, was the switching of centers on the lines. Drai went crazy after that and pulled everyone with him. I’m always so amazed that, while most teams have maybe one player that can elevate the whole team when they get rolling, we have two players that can do it all by themselves!
Hyman and Kane are rolling now and it has me dreaming big. Nuge is doing all the same stuff but now the puck is going in. Mcleod is growing his confidence every shift and I dunno what to do with him. Hes stuck going no higher as a third center on this team although I would swap him with Kailer in a second if we had anyone capable of playing 3C. Never seen Foogy play with this much confidence. If Jesse can get going(I honestly think its confidence but you can see it growing each game) the third line is gonna feast on the lesser lights. They could be the best scoring third line I have ever seen on this team. They are so close!
Nurse was his best self last night. Physical, fast and making the right plays. Ceci is steady eddie. Kulak is close to the guy he was and the end of last year. I could watch Bouch touch passes all day. When hes on, he makes some breathtaking passes. Once he irons out his inconsistencies I wouldn’t mind him up with Nurse. His talent playing more with the big dogs could be incredible. We wait.
Yes, the pendulum with Bouchard is the skill guys are going to cash his passes, but they’re usually matched against the other team’s skill. At some point Bouch has to play against the Crosbys and sink or swim.
McLeod is a better centre than winger, and with him as 3rd line centre, the Oilers can win most 3rd line matchups.
I see the mini-debate between Woodguy and LT about McLeod potentially playing a more prominent role and it triggered something I’ve never seen mentioned.
Back in the 1990’s and 2000’s coaches made a choice between going Power vs Power (line 1 vs line 1) or instead going with a checking line matchup (line 3 vs line 1). Picture the Ducks Cup win with Sami Pahlsson-Rob Niedermeyer-Travis Moen line constantly facing and surviving the toughs and allowing Getzlaf, Perry and company to go against the lesser lights. IIRC the Oilers were a PvP team with Shawn Horcoff trying to handle those brutal Sedin matchups.
I can’t think of a single team that uses a checking line regularly nowadays and if I haven;t seen it I think that’s indicative. I would expect the Oilers would see vastly more than the average opponent. We instead get a sprinkle of the Phil Danualts and Mikael Backlunds but even they are more like 2nd lines.
I wonder if this specific strategy has led to the big bump in offense around the league.
Crosby and McDavid try to outscore each other.
Malkin and Draisaitl try to outscore each other.
Carter and McLeod try to outscore each other.
In the 2000s some combo of Ryan-Foegele-Janmark would have been hard matched against Crosby so that McDavid could have clean air.
I wonder what’s caused this?
I’d suggest an unwillingness of the stars to sit on the bench while 3rd liners play 20+ minutes. I’d suggest with so much money on the table, today’s Sami Pahlsson’s are unlikely to sacrifice their counting stats (and get murdered in the fancies) as it’ll cost them millions at the negotiating table. Dunno…
Interesting angle to ponder.
Good points. What happened to the Steve Kaspers of the world?
Teams have decided that the best defense is to spend less time defending, and hence opt power v power. Also less clutch and grab gives skill lines a greater advantage over third line checkers, regardless of how good they are.
The best coaches also are more system driven. They would rather everyone plays the same way, and the skill guys are allowed jazz solos over the structured foundation.
Agreed-teams have made a subtle change here.
This site has been talking/begging for this for some time…
I think the the Northern Division year Winnipeg Jets ran a checking line. I seem to remember the likes of Lowery, Appleton and Copp gave the Oilers top line fits(or was it during the numerous time in the regular season?).
I can thing of a few reasons checking lines are on decline (and I realize some of these reasons contradicts the others; its just the narratives).
– The 2006 two line pass rules made trap more difficult, and by extension makes checking lines less effective.
– Since the 2012 stoppage teams phase out enforcers and supposedly replace them with “actual hockey players”. In reality though, teams round out roster with tweeners or fading bad contracts they no longer able to bury in the minors. Without the trap, they too become easy prey to opposite power lines and need sheltering.
– Defensive forwards like Gordon, Letestu and Hendricks used to be a thing, but toward the end of their careers they too get dump on because of poor fancies(even they got most of the defensive zone starts heavy liftings). It maybe also be true that they used to be 2 way players regressed into defensive players as they got older, who knows.
– Even MacT recognized 4th line must at least remain a threat. It became difficult for young guys to get established playing defensive F.
– The Devin Shores of this world, while his lines outscoring opposition the entire career(5v5 GF% is a fancy stat, but “somehow” +/- is a flawed stats by the way), gets thumbs down from the smart group (although McClellan would trust him when the season was on the line and the bench was severely shorten).
– Around the same time the cap situation changed, the fancy movement also brought along concepts such as zone starts. At times, it appears the defensive trio’s job description also changed from shadowing the top line to heavy defensive zone starts.
– By definition, a checking line hard match shadowing the opposition top line would result in lots of TOI, and that would likely make them the de facto 2 way 2nd line by minutes(and often along with it total points and goal share within the team), see the 90s MGM lines.
I wonder if a few of the longer shots that have eluded Campbell so far this season are partially due to him and his defense and the rest of the team getting on the same page regarding shooting lanes. If the Oilers defensive system is different than Toronto’s, it seems to make sense that it will take some time for Campbell to better read which lane the defenseman is blocking so he knows which way to lean to get a better view of the shot and to know what trajectory it is likely to take. On several of the long shot goals that Campbell has let in, Campbell appears to have been screened and possibly initially leaning the wrong way, delaying his picking up the shot.
On the PP shot last night, Murray was in the lane, Campbell leaned to his right, and Rakell put it off the post to his left. Whether Murray should have been slightly further to his left, or Campbell should have anticipated the shot would go left based on Murray’s positioning, I can’t say as that is a conversation between Campbell, Schwartz, Manson and the D as to how they want to consistently play it.
Mike Smith commented last season when things were going well down the stretch that the thing the Oilers as a unit were doing best was everyone on the ice getting on the same page to play so that the goalie would know where the shot would likely come from and its trajectory. Smith indicated that more important than the volume of the shots, or even the quality of the shots, was predictability of the shots.
I thought Rakell’s shot was a wicked laser beam and would have been very hard for any goalie to snag it.
It was a great hard shot off the post, but I think the shot was low enough (about 18 inches or more below the crossbar on his glove side, that Campbell could have had a chance at it with the right anticipation or unscreened.
In addition to not being in sync on the screen, I also think Murray and Shore’s positioning on the play afforded Rakell too much time to get his shot off unmolested from a high slot area. Maybe it was for other reasons, but Shore did not PK again in the game despite the Oilers having to kill a double minor later in the first and the late penalty with Ryan in the Box.
I would argue that 3C is an incredibly important role on this team and far more impactful than top 6 wing if that is the spot he moves up to when you suggest “larger role”
The only more impactful role would be 2C while 29-97 are together, but if I were coach I’d make sure that 93 was 3C in that situation.
McLeod (and some help) have turned around the black hole of goal differential that has been EDM’s bottom 6 since Hemsky was here except for one brief shining moment in 16/17 when Letestu achieved 50% GF in 728 minutes.
Its made all the difference in the world.
Great points. I look at that five-in-five icetime (11:50 a night) and can’t help but want it to push to 14 minutes. Then again, the depth chart is ridiculous. 🙂
There’s also been an inordinate amount of special teams time thus far in the season, so maybe that creeps up as things regress to the meat.
Oh how we missed you WoodGuy…welcome back. Yes I completely agree McLeod was drafted and developed to be just that….a damn fine 3C…..which he has now become.
Lets enjoy the fruits of our planning.
McLeod in the right spot for now, & maybe for a long time to come. Hard for a bottom 6 C to get 5-on-5 minutes, but he’s a regular on the PK & the 2nd unit PP. I think he’s been getting some 4-on-4 time as well, & I won’t be surprised to see him get the odd shift in the third minute of OT. Not yet ready for goalie-out scenarios though that time is coming too.
Has 3 more goals than the rest of the bottom 6 combined, which as Woodguy implies is big.
Thanks. Never really left, just don’t have much to say during the summer. I still check LT’s post almost daily and chime in when I have something to say.
“don’t have much to say…..”
What’s that like?
Through 6 games, Ryan McLeod has 5 SOG and sports a shooting percentage of 60%.
Lest we forget you praising the Canes GA/game and GF/game rates a few days ago.
Through 6 games we see comments from you only to accentuate the negative.
You seem to exist here solely as a soaked, dripping wet blanket to try to snuff out the fires of our fandom. This is the extreme opposite of normal. It was even worse when you were doing it to “kick enthusiastic fans when we were down” during the DoD. If I was someone who knew you and cared about you, I would be very concerned.
I can’t help but notice that this is very strange behaviour from someone who appears to be intelligent. I am writing this not out of annoyance, but as someone who cares about people. To paraphrase LT, balance is the goal and you appear to lack that very thing.
Take care of yourself. Life is far too short to carry extremely odd grudges against a group of strangers, because of a negative interaction you had with a player more than half your lifetime ago. I hope you can one day get over it. Sincerely.
So I guess he picks his moments…..
Some place, a village is missing its idiot.
Was it Cogliano who once had a game where he milked three ineffective shots on net out of five clean breakaways, for a 60% registered-on-statsheet conversion rate? (An esoteric fancy stat known as spurts-per-solo-hurtle, aka spurts/hurtle.)
Should be easy for someone to recall, as every partisan in attendance felt bag-skated after bum-lifting six, five, four, three, then finally two inches off their seats, in a difficult calisthenic progression known as the Rusty (after Russ Courtnall).
Apparently, though, it’s Darren Helm who set the single-season record in chest-protectors/60 after reducing play to a skills competition with his elite wheels. Once scouted as a future Todd Marchant … if he had any hands.
Not all shooting percentages are created equal.
Nice to hear your thoughts Woodguy. Hope life is good 😊
Thanks. Life bumps along nicely. Hope yours does too.
Hear Hear. Keep filling that hole!
Bouchard with the home run pass to Hyman for the first goal and had an absolutely sublime touch pass late to Shore who couldn’t bury. It would be nice to experiment with running him with Nurse more often as we continue to go 11/7.
We might have to stop getting mad at the Oilers for making drop passes, because they led to 3 goals last night. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
This is bang on. In 2022, if you don’t use the trailer you’ve got not chance to score. We need to stop using the 1970’s cliches (Stauffer said some quote about only two places you don’t want to make a drop pass…at home and on the road).
It is a matchup game. Belichek more often than not plays his best corner man on the 2nd best receiver of the opposition, and plays some form of double coverage with his weaker corner on the best receiver of the opposition.
Bouchard’s defensive game still leaves a lot to be desired. He can impact the game more on the non-shutdown-pair rather than on the shutdown pair.
Like Bowman with Larry Murphy.
Or St. Louis, when the finally won a Cup when Parayko took the shutdown role, leaving Pieterangelo to dominate freed from that responsibility.
So apparently Woodcroft tore a strip off the team after that lacklustre 1st period. And they were playing better on the few shifts prior to 97’s back eating iron.
So maybe it wasn’t the scare of the injury, although that gave opportunity for the line juggle that paid off so well.
I think it was a player’s only meeting
I agree with Terry Ryan, I think “players only meeting” is overstating it. The players “meet” between periods without the coaches every intermission. I’m sure some intermissions are more relaxed than others, of course.
I think Woody did come in and give a bit of stern talking to and then, after he left, the players “discussed” themselves and looked each other “in the mirror”.
My take.
I Hope Connor is not too sore this morning.
I like the lines 2nd period on. I don’t feel KY truly deserves that many more minutes over JP. I wouldn’t mind seeing them changing lines to wake up both players.
Yamo has visible chemistry with Drai and Kane. JP was fitting in well with McLeod and Foegele on 3RW.
With the amount of time KY has played with Connor and Leon all he has is 1 assist to show for his efforts. Sooner or later we need to give JP some time with either and build his confidence and TOI. KY may benefit from playing 3L and against lower competition
Sooner or later JP will need to leave them no choice but to play him in the top six. It’s not like he is playing with Letestu and Korpikoski, Foegele and McLeod are good players.
Exactly what I was thinking. Jesse needs to take care of his own business and the opportunities will come.
At this point I don’t think JP has the puck skills to be anything more than a 3rd line winger. I really thought his offense would come around once he settled into being a full time NHLer but I’m just not seeing it.
JP is a very good defensive winger( I’m surprised they don’t use him on the PK), he backtracks on the puck as well as any Oilers forward. But the only offense he creates is by popping pucks loose on the forecheck. Sure it’s a skill, but he rarely makes a pass to create a scoring chance, and he either fumbles the puck or shoots it into the goalies chest on his own scoring chances.
JP just doesn’t have the puck skills or agility to control the puck in tight spaces, and that’s how most offense is created in the NHL.
If you don’t agree, ask yourself how many times the play dies on his stick? How many times does he come out of a 1 on 1 puck battle with control of the puck? How many times does he fumble a pass or fan on a shot? It’s not from lack of effort, or lack of hockey IQ. He just doesn’t have the hands.
I’d be very surprised if he’s back next year, and I think the 3 million could be used in better ways.
Hope I’m wrong.
— have the oilers ever scored 6 goals and McD pointless I wonder.
I like the line of 91-29-56 played a huge game.
I didn’t see Puljujarvi good, point blank shot has to go in, he fired right into the chest again.
I seen a lot of one and done with the puck.
I also really liked Ryan game, terrible call on him.
Puljujarvi might need to work on the areas he’s getting open in. He’s had a couple of looks this year where he’s gotten open right in the crease but has nowhere to put the puck around the goalie. If he’s 3 feet back on those chances he would have 2 or 3 goals. He also had a play late in the third where he shoved the puck carrying defender right off his skates for a chance. I really hope something clicks for him because my god he could be a special player.
I find the whole team is like that, too close in to cash
They are fine on rush plays but I think aren’t particularly dangerous on cycle chances and when they have O zone possession
It was said they looked at how the Pens were scoring, they should study how the perfection line kills it off the cycle
I don’t disagree with any of this but do Yamamoto’s two point blank chances also have to go in?
Don’t get me wrong, Yamo was FINALLY effective in the last 40 minutes but he’s bobbling and whiffing and not finishing every bit as much as the other guy, no?
Does the fact that the Oilers came alive after the McDavid scare indicate that most of the teams problems are cognitive/emotional?
It could be a very important lesson for the team for sure.
The second they couldn’t “wait for Connor to change the game” they changed it themselves and absolutely crushed a good team for the rest of that period.
Knowing they have that in them and being able to recall it may be important this season.
Crushed ‘em in the third as well.
Yep, important lesson for the team assuming they use it well. Right now it seems they need to fall behind or lose their Captain before the adrenaline kicks in. On one hand, it’s a lesson that they can a) beat good teams without playing a full 60 minutes and b) can survive a McDavid injury. On the other hand, any success with the first lesson may reduce their urgency to play a full 60 minute game; and as we know – old habits die hard. There’s no guarantee they can turn it around when the “must win” games come into play
I will bet Connor is having a difficult time getting out of bed this morning. That goal post is gonna leave a bruise.
As an example, I was dropping trees and got nailed by a branch that came outta nowhere and got me right across the mid back. Knocked me down but I was ok and finished the job.
Next day, though, I could hardly take a full breath for how sore my back and rib cage were. I expect McDavid is having similar feels right now. Would not be surprised if he missed a game or two.
After McDavid’s 2 prior serious injuries — full speed into the end boards, full speed into a goal post, both with a little help from an opponent — it was a huge relief to see him get up at all.
He’s Glenn Anderson minus the indestructible gene.
I’m pretty sure he has the best physical therapists working on his back. I bet he spent an hour in the ice tub after the game!
I was thinking broken ribs.
HE is almost made of steel.
Perhaps he is made of BioSteel?
I will show myself out….