Edmonton Oilers Talk: Red Rotten Oilers Find a Way to Defeat Jets Plus More NHL Rumors!

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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Edmonton Sun

Puljujarvi, Koskinen the story in Edmonton Oilers’ win over Jets

Puljujarvi, who looks like he wants the puck more this season as Connor McDavid’s right-winger, tipped in a Leon Draisaitl power-play shot, blew a 40-footer past Brick founder Bill Comrie’s boy, Eric, and was dangerous on almost every shift in the Oilers’ 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
Mikko Koskinen, could easily have won first star in the Oilers net, giving up an unstoppable goal by Kyle Connor, who ended the three-overtime playoff game last May on the game’s second shot. He flashed a series of big saves, many with his glove hand, until Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey beat him late in the third — both in tight with his defenders not defending.
While Draisaitl fed one of those incredible 40-foot backhand saucers onto Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ stick for the winner with 116 seconds left, Puljujarvi and Koskinen were the story.

“We were red rotten in front of him and Mikko was excellent,” said Oilers coach Dave Tippett

Tippett, while loving the winning feed after stealing the puck, was lukewarm on his overall offensive game in this one.

“He threw a lot of back-hands tonight, some to our team, some to the other team,” he said. “The problem is when that happens in the playoffs, it usually goes against you, and that’s the problem I have.”

Tippett said Archibald, who hasn’t been on the ice since camp started, still isn’t ready for practices.
Benson, who played the first four pre-season games, has a slight groin issue…
Evan Bouchard was out for the last shift, protecting the one-goal lead, but Tippett wasn’t raving about his play. “He’s had a good camp but he still has to get stronger and be harder (defensively). His puck play has to improve.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ll say it again for those in the back, don’t fall in love with preseason performances. Jesse and Mikko might’ve had good games and Brendan Perlini really having himself some good luck, but none of it matter.

Of course, it’s nice to see and there’s a lot to be said about gaining confidence early on, but the door can slam shut in the first week of the regular season and then that player is up the river without a paddle.

What you want to see is consistent performances from players and that they’re doing the little things right as often as possible. Last night’s game was a tough one to watch from that perspective because there were a shit ton of mistakes made, so the coaches are going to have a bit to go over this week prior to Edmonton’s next game against the Flames.

Cult of Hockey

Player grades: Oilers finally beat Jets, led by Koski, Pulju and a touch of Drai

#5 Cody Ceci, 4. He was mostly fine when the puck was on his stick and/or outside of Oilers territory, but he had a tough night in his own end.
#13 Jesse Puljujarvi, 7. Made a big defensive play to cover off Broberg and break up a Connor-to-Ehlers slot pass that had “goal” written all over it.
#19 Mikko Koskinen, 8. After a bit of a slow start he was the man most responsible for keeping the Oilers close in a sloppy opening frame.
#37 Warren Foegele, 6. Got a chance to play on McDavid’s line… Physical, 2 hits, a quasi-scrum, a bit of attitude. Not his best game I don’t suppose, but I see a lot to like in this player.
#42 Brendan Perlini, 5. Didn’t score a goal for the first time in 4 preseason games, but did the next best thing when his outside shot was tipped home by Shore. Spent much of the night trapped in own end, with his 2 giveaways not helping in the possession game either.
#71 Ryan McLeod, 4. He only deserved half of his own -2, as he was the victim of Turris’ ill-timed line change and could only ever get as close as “also in frame”… Again didn’t create much at the good end of the ice. 4/8=50% on the dot.
#75 Evan Bouchard, 4. Paired with Nurse, not always successfully… Stood up for himself in a third period scrum and viewed the game winner, scored 4-on-4, from the sin bin. Played 24:42 with 5 shot attempts, 4 giveaways and some critical words from his coach.
#84 William Lagesson, 3. Unable to contain his man below the goal line and allowed a dangerous slot pass that Koskinen cleaned up. Gone fishing on the Oilers one penalty of the night, when it fell to Kassian to clean up the mess… The walls may be closing in.
#86 Philip Broberg, 5. Had a very tough start but recovered thereafter… 3 shots on goal at one end, 3 shot blocks at the other, and no goals against on his watch.

BLH’s Thoughts: Man, that first goal was a bit of a dog’s breakfast. Nurse and Kassian couldn’t decide who was going to go for the area pass that Bouchard rimmed around the boards, so the Jets player took over, beat Darnell Nurse in a puck battle, and then Kass failed to tie up Connor and he was -1.

Is anybody else a little bit miffed at the amount of distance goals that Edmonton has scored recently? Pulju had one last night and Draisaitl and Perlini’s shots were from the blue line with a redirection too. I can’t expect that kind of luck to continue into the regular season, but I’ll say this, I miss the days when a forward could step over the blue line and blow one by the goalie.

The Oilers defense was in shambles all night pretty much, so one can understand why Coach Tippett was furious after the game. I noticed on multiple occasions where Cody Ceci or William Lagesson were chasing a forward up as far as their own blue line thus leaving the front of their own net unprotected. I suppose in those scenarios you’d like your centers to help out a bit more, right?

Ah well, it’s only preseason and these games are to get the kinks out. So there’s really no sense in getting our sacks tied in a knot over a meaningless hockey game.

The Hockey Writers (Rumors)

The Maple Leafs have signed 18-year-old center Braeden Kressler to a three-year entry-level contract, as per agent Dan Milstein on Twitter… Kressler attended Toronto’s training camp as an undrafted free agent. He was eligible for the 2021 NHL Draft but was not selected… He’s a crafty, but scrappy winger, but also defensively responsible. The Maple Leafs must believe he can grow into something more
The Florida Panthers are engaged in ongoing negotiations on a contract extension with captain Aleksander Barkov. Per sources, talks are progressing slowly, but there is optimism a deal can be reached by the start of the reg-season (which is not currently considered a deadline). – David Pagnotta, The Fourth Period
Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News reports that because Jack Eichel is refusing to take the Sabres medical advice to have the fusion surgery, he risks not getting paid and could be suspended by the team. The scribe suggests the only way to break this stalemate and to eventually get traded is to have the surgery he wants (but the Sabres are denying) anyways, get healthy and make himself attractive to more NHL teams.