I’ll start off by saying this, I think this effort was 10x the one from yesterday. The Washington Capitals are an offensive juggernaut in my opinion and the Oilers held them to only 1 goal. The defense was on point but the offense is still struggling and I don’t really know what one can do about that.
I was very happy that Ovechkin and Kuznetsov didn’t take the game over though. A fine showing by the Oilers not to let that happen!
Five Things We Learned
- Pat Maroon wasn’t taking any shit tonight!
I loved the passion from Big Rig tonight. He was battling everywhere and he’s showing us that he’s really making an effort to snap out of this slump by trying everything. That scrap with Tom Wilson was nearly a minute long and Wilson is no slouch when it comes to chucking knuckles. Add to that another 7 shots on net tonight.
- Khaira, Brossoit, and Auvitu came to play!
I loved Brossoit’s game tonight. He was the rock Edmonton needed back there and each performance like this that he has increases the amount of confidence Todd McLellan has in him and the more likely he is to get the call in the future.
JJ Khaira was having the kind of game that would’ve had him one of the 3 stars at the end of the night until he failed to stay on Orlov but thus is life for a young NHLer. The rest of the game he was solid and looked very confident.
Auvitu… You want to get pissed at the guy for jumping into the play so much but luckily nothing too terrible happened as a result. Now, I don’t mind a dman that is so offensively minded as long as he’s putting up points but the Frenchman isn’t. At least he didn’t cost the Oilers a goal
- Todd McLellan HAS to do better.
I was flabbergasted when I didn’t see Jesse Puljujarvi in the OT but I did see Ryan Strome (who didn’t show badly) and Pat Maroon (who at one point was the only defender back). All of that open ice is tailor-made for Jesse Puljujarvi with the way he skates and all of his power… Personally, I think it’s bullshit that McLellan didn’t put him out there.
- NHL reffing is still garbage.
This isn’t something we learned tonight but it’s something that continues to plague the NHL. I know that the job is a very difficult one to do and you can’t call everything on Connor McDavid but you can call something. Like one thing. At least!
- Oscar Klefbom bounced back.
I loved his game tonight. The difference between tonight’s game and yesterday’s game was like night and day. He kept it very simple and really took to heart what the coaching staff laid out for him after the Rangers game. I hope that he can continue this trend up and we get to see a goal from him soon.
Next game up is versus Vegas and this is important for a few reasons.
- Vegas is a Pacific division rival. The time to start climbing up the standings is now.
- The Golden Knights are fast and tenacious, two things that kill the Oilers unless they’re playing New Jersey, so Edmonton is going to have to be well prepared for that. I hope they go with the same lineup but with Talbot in net.
- I’m not 100% for sure but I’m assuming that Vegas will have Maxime Legace in net and what better opportunity for the Oilers to score more than 2 goals than against an AHL netminder.
Now, it’s going to be all unicorns and lollipops vs Vegas. At the moment, they are playing very well but it’s time for the Oilers to get their special teams on the right track and summon the spirits of 2016/17 to help them put some goals in the bloody net!
Don't get too down but Calgary was 3rd last in the NHL with a 5-9-0-1 record at this time last season.
Other teams that were out of a PO spot were Columbus, Nashville, and Toronto.
NJ was 7-3-0-3 (11th) and they ended the year in 28th place.
Lots of time for the #Oilers 🙂
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) November 12, 2017
