Edmonton Oilers Offer New Look, Old Results
By Kurt Leavins
The Edmonton Oilers were a very different team, on Thursday night, than the one we had (sadly) become used to seeing in St. Louis over the past few years. Too bad the final result (a 3-1 loss to the Blues) was ultimately not much better, at least when you look at it in the standings. 9 Things:
9. I had been worried about the Griffin Reinhart pairing with Eric Gryba, coming out of training camp. But the pair was very solid in it’s own end, and moved the puck surprisingly well out of the Edmonton Oilers zone. They paired up really quite well against the heavy Blues, especially against the cycle.
8. Was the Edmonton Oilers 4th line, comprised of Mark Letestu, Matt Hendricks and Luke Gazdic, their best? Perhaps, and with all due respect, that is a reflection of how well the Oilers played on offence, tonight. Hendricks, in particular, looks to have gained a step and was quite effective. One of their best skaters.
7. So…was it just me, or did all of us watch the Edmonton Oilers struggle on offence tonight and say to ourselves “Boy, be sure could have used Leon Draisaitl tonight”? The team had its moments with the puck, but not nearly enough, often enough, or sufficiently sustained. Hmmm. We’ll see how long he stays in Bakersfield.
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6. Over-all, I felt as if the Oilers defence played quite well, led by Justin Schultz, who carried a solid pre-season into this game. It looked as if Oscar Klebom is a 1/4 step behind, not a surprise considering how long he has been on the sidelines with a TC injury. Rust, I’m thinking. But the pairing was above-average.
5. Anton Slepyshev was a real concern, over the first 45-50 minutes of the game. It looked very much like his first NHL game. But in the last 10 minutes, he really pushed the play, taking the puck to the net and generally making things happen. He needs to put together a more consistent 60 minutes, though.
4. O.K., the Vladimir Tarasekno goal. Yes, Teddy Purcell turned over the puck in a 1-on-1 battle, which ultimately led to the Blues goal. But that WAS 175 feet from his own net, and Tarasenko split the Oilers D-men (Mark Fayne and Andrej Sekera, who had just got on the ice after a change). Looked like the Edmonton Oilers of old.
3. Connor McDavid did not look like an 18-year old playing his first NHL game. He didn’t push the river on offence, over the first two periods, but he was very good on the other side of the puck. Then, late in the game, McDavid had several spectacular drives to the net, and one other glorious chance alone in front. This kid is going to be fun to watch for the next decade or so. He sure was tonight.
2. Having said all that, the McDavid-Hall-Slepyshev trio did not have a lot of chemistry tonight. While I want the McDavid-Hall pairing to work, there is not a body of work that supports that notion, yet. But I would stick with them. Keep in mind, after all: Taylor Hall IS playing with two, raw rookies. That isn’t an easy assignment for any of the 3. Patience will be required.
1. The biggest positive to take out of this game tonight has to be the play of Cam Talbot. Talbot looked for all of the world like a starting NHL goaltender, limiting rebounds, making the saves that you need your goalie to make, when you need him to make them. You couldn’t fault him on the first two, and the 3rd was an empty netter. I kept waiting for “that goal” to go in on him, as it has all too often in the past, and it did not. To early to say “we won THAT trade”, but so far…arrows up.
A loss is a loss. But I think you may be hard-pressed to find too many fans who would not agree that this is a much better hockey team than we have seen, in perhaps 5-6 years. On to Nashville, Saturday.