Edmonton Oilers Battle Blues To Final Seconds
By Kurt Leavins
The Edmonton Oilers lost 2-1 Saturday night, primarily because they were facing a better, deeper, heavier roster in the St. Louis Blues. And when you are a 29th place team, their is no shame in that, particularly with effort the Oilers put forward. But 2 mistakes ended up in their own net, and the Oilers could not capitalize on some chances at the other end. 9 Things:
9. Remember when the Edmonton Oilers boasted “the best ice in the NHL”? Well, not anymore. Bill Ranford, who was honored prior to the game, would not have recognized it from his days. Snowy, choppy and slow, the bad ice was a factor for both teams. The puck was bouncing all night long.
8. Derek Roy played 17 minutes of very good veteran hockey tonight, save for one shift. Unfortunately, it was his turn-over at the blue-line that quickly went in the other direction and ended up behind Ben Scrivens. Thank-fully, these are much more rare occurrences than before Christmas.
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7. For the better part of the night, the Edmonton Oilers went with just 5 defencemen. Mark Fayne was cut and needed to leave the game for a fair chunk of the 2nd Period. That left Andrew Ference and 4 other defencemen, all of them under the age of 24, to carry the load. And you know what…they did o.k.
6. Iiro Pakarinen was badly hurt, on just the 2nd shift of his night. While it would be logical for Matt Fraser to draw back in for him, Matt Hendricks should really be on the Wing. Bogdan Yakimov scored (again) Saturday for OKC. He has looked good, and this is probably a good time for a cup of coffee with the big club.
5. Matt Hendricks was the Edmonton Oilers best forward against St. Louis. On one hand, that’s a problem. But while playing out of position, Hendricks played 17:35, won 2-3rds of his faceoffs, and led both teams with 7 hits, several of them of the crushing variety. What a gamer.
4. Yes, the St. Louis Blues did have sustained periods of pressure in the Oilers zone in the 3rd Period. But this team has become way better at managing the middle of the ice. Look…good teams WILL have pressure in your zone. But keep them to the outside like they did Saturday, and the Oilers will beat some good teams.
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3. The Norris Trophy comment made in relation to Justin Schultz really was silly. He is not going to be “that”. But having said that, the young defenceman has really turned it around in the last 25 games. Saturday against St. Louis, Justin Schultz was very good, and was fully deserving of his 3rd Star selection.
2. Ben Scrivens is not the (sole) reason the Edmonton Oilers lost tonight. The guy faced 27 shots, made a number of spectacular saves with the game on the line, and had zero chance on the first goal. Should have he had the second one? Absolutely. But when your team only scores once, you don’t hang the loss on the goalie.
1. The Edmonton Oilers missed Jeff Petry tonight. Against one of the heavier teams in the NHL, especially along the boards, missing a bigger veteran body that can beat the for-check to pucks hurts you. Don’t get me wrong, I know the score: You don’t risk injuring a player you are about to trade when the game means nothing to you in the standings. But it points out a stark fact: As much as some fans like to treat Petry as their personal whipping boy and say he’s really just a 5-6 D-man, on this team…he IS your best defenceman. Or was.
All in all, that was not a bad performance at all, from one of the worst teams in the league (in terms of the W/L) against one of the very best. But another heavy team in the LA Kings skates into Rexall Place Tuesday night.
And the defending Stanley Cup Champions will be facing Jordan Oesterle and his 2 games of NHL experience on the right side, instead of Jeff Petry and his 295.
That, my friends, will be a fact of life for the next 19 games. Get used to it.