We’re at the halfway point in the 2020-21 NHL season for the Edmonton Oilers and as I correctly predicted way back at the beginning of the season, the team is competing for first in their division. However, three times in the next six nights, the Oilers will meet their most biggest threat for that top spot, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
I haven't updated Holloway's chart with his D1 numbers yet (soon) but Holloway is currently pacing an NHLe of 56 in his D1 season in the NCAA which is really quite extraordinary.
A NCAA forward has only reached an NHLe of 50 or more before age 21 a few times. Here's the list… https://t.co/YApc1wF7zB pic.twitter.com/fEw54XCx8j
— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) February 27, 2021
Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Maple Leafs tonight,
- #8 Jake Muzzin – Toronto’s no.1 shutdown defender is slated to return to the lineup after sustaining a facial injury. He won’t be hard to notice as he’s slated to be wearing a full face-shield and no doubt, he’ll be getting the tough assignment of attempting to render one of Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl ineffective.
- #36 Jack Campbell – One of the best backups in the league right now, Toronto needs him with Andersen not able to go. The Oilers have shown in the past on occasion to have a tough time with backups…
- #34 Auston Matthews – He’s dealing with a wrist injury, so there’s no guarantee he’ll be playing. The last time he missed a game it was against the Oilers… Is he coming down with the McDavid flu? I keed! But if he’s to keep up with Connor in the bid for this year’s MVP award, he’ll need to be in the lineup more often than not.
For Toronto to have success they’ll need to get their foot soldiers clicking and also play the patient game I feel. Zach Hyman is really not having an amazing season so far but he’s the kind of guy who can energize a team with one shift due to his ability to get in the muck and have success there. If Toronto can get him situated in front of the net and fire some point shots his way, I think he could have a bit of luck given how strong and relentless he is.
Edmonton has been caught with their pants down a couple of times on the PP this year but their goaltenders have bailed them out. Even during the previous pair of games I can remember Ilya Mikheyev using his speed and skill to pull away from an Oilers defenseman, who coughed up the puck in a precarious position, so that he could get a scoring chance shorthanded. Well, the Leafs have him and Pierre Engvall that they’ll need to be wary of should they be awarded a chance or five on the powerplay.
With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,
- #39 Alex Chiasson – The bottom-six power forward has six points in his last six games and is ROLLING on Edmonton’s top PP unit. I’ve got no clue who Zack Kassian is going to send to the press box when he’s healthy with all of Edmonton’s RWers performing as well as they are.
- #18 James Neal – Ryan Rishaug said on Jason Gregor’s show that he watched Neal at practise and noticed that he was skating really well. I think he’s also played pretty well against the Leafs in recent times, but the question is, will Tippett sacrifice one of Caleb Jones, Ethan Bear, or Evan Bouchard in order to get the veteran into the lineup? Neal, Gaetan Haas, and Chiasson have been a very effective 4th line when played together and Edmonton needs to win the bottom-six effort outright in these next three games.
- #22 Tyson Barrie – The last time these teams met, Barrie hadn’t caught on fire yet. Well, just call him The Human Torch because he’s lighting up the entire league at the moment and you know he’d love to stick it to his former team and that entire market.
Keys to Success For the Oilers
Stay out of the box… The PK this year has been mediocre (76.2%, 19th in the league) this year and if Matthews is playing and with the way he’s shooting the puck (over 20% shooting percentage), I think Edmonton would more likely than not be paying the price.
On of the few times the Oilers have played a shutdown game was against the Leafs earlier this year in a 2-1 victory. They locked down the middle of the ice, got in the shooting lanes, got a good goaltending performance, and basically didn’t give Toronto’s big boys anything to look at. I’d love to see a repeat performance of that.
Mike Smith of the @EdmontonOilers is the second goalie 38 or older in NHL history to begin a season 6-0-0.
The other was Toronto's George Hainsworth in 1934-35 (started 8-0-0).
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) February 26, 2021
Just a couple of other notes I gleaned from listening to Oilers talk radio yesterday,
- Dominik Kahun, Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse, and Kris Russell all took the day off. Not sure about today since I live on the other side of the planet and there aren’t any radio hits to let us know, but we can conclude that these players needed some R&R urgently.
- Draisaitl has been given quite a few off-days recently. I wonder what he’s dealing with? Did some of those bigger hits he took last week and prior jar something loose?
- Nurse blocked a shot last game that made him fold up like a cheap tent, but that lasted all of 2 seconds. He was back up and defending fantastically because he’s a Terminator like that.
- Don’t know if that hit Russell took from Hoglander was the reason he took the day off, but if he can’t go, that’ll make the decision on Jones, Bear, and Bouchard that much easier.
- Mike Smith was in the starters net during yesterday’s morning skate… The pundits are presuming he’ll start tonight against Toronto.
- Connor McDavid’s scoring pace is the 9th highest in NHL history. He’s got 26pts in his last 13 games… All of this is pretty remarkable considering the age of hockey we’re in.
- Spector and Stauffer were waxing poetical about the Oilers finally having some scoring depth now that the Oilers have won two games in their last six without McDavid and Draisaitl scoring. I guess the team had lost 26 games in a row if those two didn’t get on the score sheet.
- I found this comical because when you expand things, their record is still shit when that pair doesn’t score, right? They’ve won two games in their last THIRTY-TWO when Connor and Leon were held pointless, yet here comes the depth?…
- Also, on this latest run, look at who the Oilers have played.
- Toronto: 1-0-0
- Ottawa: 4-0-0 (Turrible)
- Calgary: 2-1-0 (Suck)
- Montreal: 1-0-0 (Struggling)
- Winnipeg: 1-1-0
- Vancouver: 1-0-0 (Abysmal)
- I’ll say this, I don’t know if it’s the depth as much as it is the mindset of the team. They believe… They believe they can win from the get go. They believe they can win if they’re down. If they lose a game, they believe they’ll win the next one. If they let in a softie, they believe they’ll make it up, and they do.
- The mental mindset of a professional athlete is even more important that the physical well-being. This team has confidence and the buy-in and they’re being rewarded because of it. That said, there will be hardships… (Keep an eye on Leon and/or Darnell I reckon)
Give us a follow on the socials!
- Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
- Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
- Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
- Facebook: Beer League Heroes
