Oilers first win of the season is in the books.

Oct 9, 2014; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers great Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier watch the action against the Calgary Flames in the first period at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Chris LaFrance-USA TODAY Sports

The Oilers finally put their first win away last sunday. It wasn’t a greasy win. It wasn’t a lucky win. It was a well deserved, hard fought win. The team played with the best assets they have in the organization and the fourth line was again really solid. Ben Scrivens looked ready and settled and the first line beat the other side’s first line with flare and passion. Everyone needed this win: the players, the coaches, the managers, the fans, the bloggers, the media. At the very least this team bought itself a few hours of reprieve and that can only help them seeing as how fragile their state of mind seems to be at times.

These were my observations from monday’s game:

The Good:

• Scrivens has finally stopped his adventures. While I was on watch for his excursions I noticed a puck sent deep behind the Oilers goal and Scrivens moving to go for it and then stopping himself at the goalpost as if the will of the arena had frozen him in his tracks. Predictably the puck went around and was recover harmlessly by the Oilers D. He had no chance on either goal against. Solid outing.
• The First Line delivered. Hall’s penalty shot was a thing of beauty. The third goal was the Oilers doing to Tampa what everyone in the West does to the Oilers:  forecheck them hard creating a turnover and a prime scoring chance.
• The “fourth line” keeps taking it to the enemy. Gordon, Hendricks and Joensuu have been the most consistent players so far this season. They are playing like a hard forechecking line and they are skating the puck from one end of the ice to the other. The Oilers don’t have a typical fourth line right now, and that is a great accomplishment. This line has a balance of size, speed, aggression and defensive acumen. This line with even a little bit more skill would be gold against any western team. The solution to the Oilers lack of balance on their top lines might actually rest in house with the fourth line. What I mean is maybe Eakins and MacTavish should take a look at this line and spread the top lines with similar attributes. Right now the top line has aggression and speed with Taylor Hall, defensive prowess with RNH and finesse with Eberle, their lack of size compensated by Hall’s superstar talent. The second and third lines are yet to find the right combo.
• Justin Schultz played less than 20 minutes. And he scored a goal. The goal against that ricocheted off of him was not his fault, those happen once in a blue moon.
• A complete game. The Oilers didn’t let off the pedal until the final horn blew. There was a complete team effort where no one took the day off. They will give themselves a chance to win every night they play a full game.

The Bad:

• Ference  keeps playing too much and Fayne too little. He logged 18:41 at EV and 19:51 total TOI, good for second amongst D men on both categories. So far this season he has played 16:37 minutes on average on all situations. That puts him third only a hair behind Nikitin. Fayne meanwhile is averaging 14:12 good for least amount of ice time of all Oilers dmen. By all accounts Andrew Ference is a great person and a community leader, and I suspect there is a bit of a friendship between him and Eakins given their passion for fitness. But at this stage of his career Ference’s hockey skills amount to no better than 3rd pairing. So why is he playing as a top d man?. My best guess is Eakins has been desperate for a win and has gone with the men he trusts most. In this regard he doesn’t trust his GM bringing a proven top 2 dman in Fayne. When a similar argument was made about Justin Schultz the rationale was that the Oilers had been chasing games so it made sense their best offfensive d man was eating the most minutes. While I think that is a weak argument, I can see the point being made. But what is the excuse with Ference?.  The Oilers are not going to win many games when Ference is used as one of their top 2 d men. So far that strategy has been part owner of one win in 6 games.
• Most of the above arguments apply to Yakupov and Perron. In the first case, we know the coach does not trust Yakupov. We also know this is a contract year for the young man, so the mind wonders if there is a nefarious plan in the works to either get rid of Yak later this season or limit his chance at success in order to cut his pay day. Even when the game was far out of reach early and it looked from before the game started that the team had thrown the towel against the Kings, Yakupov only played 14:01 total. This guy is a first overall pick and has shown what he can do, in fact he has 3 points in 6 games, good for a six way tie for second on the team while playing an average of 11:01 total, good for 10th amongst forwards. David Perron, the co-leading goal scorer in the team last season, has so far been limited to 13:03 at EV, a hair below Purcell, good for 6th among forwards. His limited ice time is not as bad as Yakupov’s but it is still worrisome for a guy who has proven offensive ability on a team desperate for wins. Both guys are tagged with an ugly minus, but after going through all the goals, I can confidently say the vast majority of them have not been their fault.

By now everyone reading must be thinking about one of the main reasons why Both Yak and Perron have played so little: Leon Draisaitl. Pretty much everyone playing with Leon has struggled. Eakins has gone out of his way to give the kid sheltered ice time. This is affecting other players, not just him. The challenge for MacTavish is two fold: first he needs to decide where Leon will learn more, here or back in Junior or Europe; the second consideration is whether the team is best served by Leon in the lineup or out of it. The answer to the first is debatable. The solution to the second was more complex earlier, but at this point, even if there are no trades to be made, I doubt anyone down at the farm will contribute less than Leon is doing right now. The fact that he is dragging along important players should also weight heavily on the decision to keep him or sending him away. IF the team is really going to push for a playoff spot, the only solution at center is a trade. IF the goal is a more modest improvement in the standings, then Lander can probably hold the fort with better linemates than he’s had with Pouliot and one of Perron and Purcell. As for Pouliot, he seems to be in the same boat as Fayne, not trusted by the coach.

The ugly:

Gene Principe’s puns. I’m sorry It’s just not my cup of tea. I love puns, when they come natural and are clever, not when they are forced and just plain stupid. I wonder if it is really necessary to have that segment. I don’t understand how that disgusting attempt at comedy gets anyone pumped for the upcoming game. Also, he always looks sweaty, greasy. I blame this entirely on the people who send him out there. The guy clearly tries his best. I think his time can be better utilized elsewhere. A lively pre game interview with a young fan or something. Just stop it with the stupid puns please.

The challenge now for the Oilers is to keep winning. Tonight’s challengers are Ovechkin and his revamped Capitals. The Oilers are built for speed and attack, not for forecheck and cycle. They are more suited for the playing style of the eastern teams. Until they evolve and get in their heads that they can’t win running and gunning like in the old days, then this team will make some significant strides. We wait and watch.