The title is not a reflection upon how the Oilers played in game one of their 2018/19 campaign but a soft actuality of what happened. Although their performance was pretty shitty if we’re being honest.
The rumors are at the bottom if you want to skip there 🙂
I actually did get sick after that game, how whether it was because there’s a bug going around that my daughter and wife caught and passed it on to me or the Oilers lack of that invigorated spirit we’ve been hearing the captain refer to all pre-season, I’ll leave that up for debate but if I’m going to be bedridden and painting the toilet bowl a new color every time they lose, I’m better off reading Matt Henderson’s blogs 82 times this year.
Since that uneventful match in Sweden, the knives have been out for nearly everyone who isn’t named McDavid and Lucic and who can blame the fans for being pissed off about that game’s result?
I can’t,
I saw a lifeless team with no energy. A team that couldn’t figure out that their opposition’s goalie was pretty good at handling the puck. Every time the Oilers dumped the puck into NJ’s zone, Kincaid would stop it and ring it back the other way, stifling the Oilers zone entry. After a while, NJ’s defense knew what Edmonton was going to do and were already turned around anticipating the dump in…
You’d have to think that the coaches (or the players for that matter) would’ve noticed this and notified the players. I mean, that’s what good coaches would do, right?
I also noticed an Oilers team getting hemmed into their own zone and not being able to get the puck out.
Now, for me in that instance, I feel that it’s acceptable to risk an icing call and just do whatever it takes to relieve the pressure for whatever amount of time that play gives you. Sure, you relinquish possession but that beats getting your ass skated around in your own zone, no?
I don’t feel that a zone exit has to be under control 100% of the time, just as I feel a zone entry doesn’t have to be controlled 100% of the time. Both will give you better odds at a shot attempt but when you’re gassed you’ll make more mistakes, that’s a guarantee.
Cam Talbot… I’m not sure if I should be mad at the guy or feel sorry for him. He let the first shot of the game in again… FFS! How infuriating is that?! On the plus, the Oilers bounced right back with a PP goal. To me, I like that they were able to put the past in the past and move on. But then there was that brain fart behind the net with Bouchard, Russell, and Talbot… What can you say?
That said, I can’t be sure if there’s a correlation between the talent level of a goalie and the amount of shot-blocking his team does but letting in the first shot of the game has to stop. For the good of the goalie and the psyche of the team.
Milan Lucic was the best player in that game in my opinion. Yes, Connor was flying around as usual but I found that NJ quieted him down a bit whereas Lucic was banging and crashing all over. He was making great passes and his 2pts tell me his head was in the right place.
How many points did last year’s MVP have? I guess he’s lucky Keith Kincaid was there to bail him out again 🙂
Near the end of the 2nd, McLellan threw out Draisait, Lucic, and Puljujarvi for a shift and WHAMMO! A scoring chance!
One scoring chance might not mean much but the Oilers had gone 17 minutes in that 2nd frame without a shot on net and they were getting their asses handed to them in the “compete” department… So yes, even something as measly as a single scoring chance got be very excited.
I was so happy and it really re-energized me for the 3rd period until I saw the 2nd line’s next shift and Yamamoto was back up there. Nothing against the rookie but he was doing fack all up to that point. Jesse should’ve, and still should be, lining up with Leon and Milan.
Shouldn’t Puljujarvi and Yamamoto be switched? I mean Jesse has two years of pro experience, three if you count SM-Liiga. Yamamoto has 9 games… You’d think that’d mean Kailer gets the start on the 3rd line where the pressure isn’t as great. A place where he’d probably have a greater chance of success, no?
Now, if you don’t agree, let me point this out to you. Andrei Svechnikov is playing on the 4th line in Carolina… The 2nd overall pick from this year’s draft is a 4th liner on THAT Carolina team and he’s playing at a point per game. 18 years old…
I can see why the coaches like Yamamoto’s skillset on that line. He’s shifty, tenacious, gritty, and he disrupts things but what I’m trying to say here is that if Jesse hasn’t “earned” that spot on the 2nd line and Yamamoto has, what does that tell you about the evaluators?
And personally, if you want a player on Leon’s line who can forecheck, you’d want Puljujarvi out there because he’s the best on the team at it. Not only is he good at tracking the puck but he’s strong enough to hold onto it…
Alas, it’s game one. I bet for most of the folks who read this they don’t remember the season-opening losses from 1987 and 1988. Or should we pretend like the result from the first game of the season will have a direct impact on the rest of the year for the Oilers?
I read in Grant Fuhr’s book that he lost his first game to the Winnipeg Jets but then went
on an undefeated streak of 25 games after that. What if they’d quit on him then or after his first trip to Maple Leaf Gardens, a 7-1 loss.
A young Grant Fuhr learned the hard way how one should react to a loss and now we hear stories about how nonchalant he became.
Here is a quote from his book where he speaks to how he felt after that first game loss to the Jets,
It was a mixed feeling after the game. One, you’re disappointed, but two, you’re just happy to have played your first game in the NHL. So it’s six of one, half dozen of the other . source
It be only one game and not a team in the history of the NHL has won the Stanley Cup or have been eliminated from the playoffs after game one.
THE RUMORS
Yesterday Bob Stauffer brought up Pat Maroon’s name on Oilers Now and has this to say about the ex-Oilers,
I mean a year ago at this time I remember Frank Seravalli, who we both know well, put out a piece on the top lines in the NHL and the no.1 ranked line at the start of the season was McDavid with Draisaitl and Maroon.
And you know how well Maroon played against Boston over the last two years. Obviously Maroon’s gone… For now… Remember he’s on a one year deal with St.Louis. Stranger things have happened…
Can you see Maroon coming back? It’s a tough scenario for me to envision with Lucic and Khaira occupying left wing on the 2nd and 3rd lines. Maybe Lucic gets moved?
I also thought that the conversation between him and Haggerty about Matt Grzelyck was interesting as Bob had talked about him recently.
Haggerty said about Grzelyck,
The way Grzelyck can go back into the corners, retrieve the puck and so quickly spin and go north and just get it out of the zone is so valuable and he’s so good at it. He’s got such good instincts for that part of the game.
Man, doesn’t sound like exactly the kind of player the Oilers were missing versus New Jersey? Maybe once Torey Krug returns from the IR Grzelyck could be moved…
Eklund has it up on his site that the Habs and Sabres are looking at Nurse… AAAAALLLLL-righty then! I hope you didn’t choke on your breakfast reading that… I nearly did.
