What if I told you that was the best performance I’ve seen from the Oilers this season? Would you believe me? No? Well what if I told you the team was without it’s top two centers? Would you believe me then? What if I said the team was playing with three rookies in the lineup and an underperforming goaltender? Would it still be my claim still be unbelievable? Not really.
The Oilers were without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Benoit Pouliot was probably playing at about 60%. I heard on a couple occasions from Garry Galley, who was working between the benches, that Pou was as white as a ghost each time he came off the ice. It looked as if a few guys were less than stellar heath-wise tonight to boot.
But a gutsy performance no less.
The fact of the matter is the team is sticking with the big boys and not “folding their hands” when they’re down by a goal or two. This is very encouraging but it’s heartbreaking too because the Oilers just aren’t quite at that point where they can get over the final hump and pick up that goal to push them over the top or hold on long enough to force overtime.
@BeerLeagueHeroe Sucks. The young guys are playing well enough most nights. It is the veterans that keep letting the team down.
— Jim Sneddon (@snedjd) November 15, 2015
Jim has it right. The veterans are the ones that were supposed to come in and shore up those rookie mistakes. The reality is, it’s the veterans that are making the rookie mistakes. I’m flabbergasted that Andrej Sekera is this bad at moving the puck, Mark Fayne as well. At what point are the Oilers going to stop cherry picking veteran defencemen from the Eastern Conference teams?
Speaking of Fayne, we haven’t seen him make a deplorable mistake in a couple games. Hopefully he can shake off the tough start the same way Teddy Purcell has. Wow! Teddy bear is on top of his game and really looking good! Would love to see him continue this for a little longer so that he’ll bring in a considerable return in a trade.
Trades… The 20 game mark is coming and bevy is about to burst in Edmonton. A few deals have been mentioned in the past week here at Beer League Heroes:
I don’t think the Oilers will go that far but then again the Jets got shellacked by the Predators yesterday and their fans were ready to jump ship and mortgage everything. I’m telling ya I think Chiarelli is going to try and get his Chara and that man is Dustin Byfuglien. I don’t know what the cost is on that fella player-wise but dollar-wise I think he’d be in the $6m to $7.5m range for at least 6 years; which would be a tough pill to swallow but it’s either that, offer-sheeting someone (Trouba, S.Jones, Lindholm, Vatanen, Gudbranson, Barrie, Spurgeon), or continue developing what they already have.
What do you think? Is it time for the Oilers to make a move or should they just be patient because the team isn’t going to make the playoffs anyhow?
Pretty disappointed with Eric Gryba tonight and Andrej Sekera. Is it McLellan’s system that is sending these dman flailing about when they get the puck? I mean they’ve both been in the league for more than a few years… Shouldn’t they be able to make a pass or clear the puck effectively?
I feel bad for Cam Talbot, he’s caught in that rut that is goalie sans confidence… And we know where that is going to take him… Probably to a better team where he’ll flourish, Am I right? I mean honestly, he was at fault for that first goal against. The guy is allergic to his posts or something. I don’t get it. The one thing I do give him credit for is not losing it completely. Sure he lets in the bad goal but he bounces back and makes a couple good ones later on.
Leon Draisaitl continues to impress alongside Taylor Hall. That first goal they combined on was pure class. It’s amazing the chemistry they’re building. I mean who would’ve thought before the season started that it would be Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov becoming what they have become and it would be the German Gretzky and the Canadian Kurri who’d be lighting up the NHL and carrying the Oilers offence?
If those pairs can continue to produce points consistently, how long until RNH and Jordan Eberle are deemed surplus to requirement and shipped off for help on the backend? Just a little food for thought.
Next up the Chicago Blackhawks back home in the friendly confines of Rexall Place. Does anybody find it ironic that a team that has been in a constant rebuild for about a decade plays in an arena called Rexall Place?… Wrecks All… Place… I dunno, just an observation.
Now the reigning Stanley Cup champs are nothing to shake a stick at but their sitting at 9-7-1 and just keeping pace with the wildcard teams. I think the Oilers will stay with them again but they’re going to have to do something about Panarin and Kane. Shut them down and hopefully the rest will follow. Oh, and don’t let Corey Crawford steal the show again.
A three day break and the boys won’t have any excuses to sit back on either. I’m hoping Anders Nilsson gets the call again to be honest. Gotta go with the hot hand.
There are still a few hours left in the BLH Tee Shop SALE folks! Head on over and pick up a t-shirt for $14 or a hoodie for $35! They’re perfect gifts for christmas and we’ve got a shirt for every Oilers fan out there! And even if you’re not an Oilers fan, we’ve got a 16-bit Superstars shirt for your team too! Click on the pic below and head over to check out the inventory!
There were a lot of “F” bombs at the 2 min mark of the 3rd period when LA’s 4th goal was scored. Wished we could have at least got a point out of that game because they deserved it. Loved all of the Oiler goals. Gosh, Draisaitl and Hall are clicking! Purcell looks like his internal drive light is on too.
I know it’s going to get better.