Resilient Edmonton Oilers Tame Broadstreet Bullies
By Kurt Leavins
A resilient Edmonton Oilers squad refused to lie down and quit, Saturday night, and were eventually rewarded with a thrilling 5-4 Overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers. 9 Things:
9. Mark Fayne probably played his best period as an Edmonton Oiler on Saturday. After an uneven 1st Frame, in which the Oilers defence was shaky, the veteran played a terrific 2nd Period. He broke up a number of dangerous looking Flyer sorties and had a real settling effect on his mates. This is why they signed him.
8. The Boyd Gordon, Matt Hendricks, Rob Klinkhammer line was particularly effective against the Flyers. At times, a physical Philadelphia could barely contain the threesome. As good as they played in their own zone, it was the sustained cycle time in the Flyers end that paid off, especially on the 3rd goal from Hendricks.
7. Claude Giroux is a real pleasure to watch. He had 2 goals and 3 shots on net in the 1st Period alone, yet still was willing to throw himself in front of a dangerous looking shot from the point. I am an admitted homer, but it is a treat to watch truly skilled players like Giroux ply their trade.
6. Taylor Hall showed some rust early, understandable considering the 20+ games he had just returned from. But his wheels started turning as the game wore on. And in overtime, when great players rise to the top, he delivered a nice feed to Nikita Nikitin, whose rebound was driven home by Nugent-Hopkins for the winner.
5. Against Columbus, Ben Scrivens failed to come up with a key save for his team when they needed it most. But after an iffy 1st against Philly, Scrivens delivered…on a Cousins break-away with 6:03 in the 3rd, and then saved the game in Overtime with a 5-alarm stop on Mark Streit. Good goalies give their teams a chance to win.
4. The Oilers young defencemen played well when it counted. Martin Marincin had a god-awful 1st, but settled nicely after that. Justin Schultz was solid through-out his 24 1/2 minutes. And Oscar Klefbom was nothing short of fantastic in his 22+ TOI, and finished plus 1. By the way, 2 of those 3rd Period Klef-bombs were not “misses”: They were intentional deflection attempts. Typical, from a rink full of fans who always yell “Shooooottt”.
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3. Jordan Eberle continued his hot streak with another goal and an assist and was +3 with 4 shots in 18:21 of TOI. Eberle now leads the Edmonton Oilers in points with 58. But he also appears to be playing with renewed resolve, going to some of the tougher areas of the ice, with great results. The kid is a star.
2. Is it not poetic justice that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would light it up on Hockey Night in Canada, the very place where Kelly Hrudey pronounced him to be “a 3rd Line center”? Look, I have a lot of time for Hrudey, he is one of the very best commentators in the game. But if he thinks for a half-second that I am ever going to let that comment quietly drift into broadcasting obscurity…he’s got another thing coming! A well-deserved 1st Star selection.
1. Should The Edmonton Oilers interview multiple coaching candidates this Summer? Sure, why not? They can only gain from unfiltered feedback that they would get on their team through such a process. But there is a great saying: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush“. Without any guarantee whatsoever that a new man would coax these performances out of Nail Yakupov, Eberle, Anton Lander, Klefbom, Nugent-Hopkins and others that Todd Nelson has…how can they afford not sign this guy? Another Ralph Krueger-like mistake could set this team back 3-4 years. And that would be an unmitigated disaster.
Funny. When they Flyers went up 3-1, my wife glanced over to me as if to say “here we go again”. There was absolutely a feeling of De-Ja-Vu at Rexall Place. But instead of rolling over like my Border Collie, the club battled back hard, and were full-marks for the victory in the end.
The “Tank-for-McDavid” crowd was wringing it’s hands in panic after the winner. But in my books, if you cheer for your team to do anything but win, in any circumstance, you don’t deserve to wear the oil drop on your chest.
Just win, baby. Just. Win.