Edmonton Oilers Drop 2-0 Decision To Nashville
By Kurt Leavins
The Edmonton Oilers were the better of two teams, in Nashville Saturday night. But “better” does not count in the standings. And in the end, no goals at one end and two give-aways at the other added up to the only result that ultimately mattered: A 2-0 loss to the Predators, and an 0-and-2 start to the season. Danger, Will Robinson. 9 Things:
9. That is two games in a row in which I have thought Eric Gryba played very good. He and Andrew Ference got crossed up once, which led to a scoring chance. But Gryba mostly played a quiet, smart game. He has been a real pleasant surprise for the Edmonton Oilers so far. Good on him.
8. It looked as if Oscar Klefbom shook most of the rust off in that St. Louis game, and was effective tonight, in Nashville, with a handful of excellent moments. Both he and Justin Schultz look like a real NHL pairing, which I hope stays together for the foreseeable future. Arrows up.
7. Taylor Hall did not score tonight, and he is paid to do that, so I won’t be too effusive with my praise. But the guy DID have 9 shots! Clearly, re-uniting him with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the right thing to do. Hall was dangerous most of the night. And after a very slow start, even Teddy Purcell came on in the last 20 minutes.
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6. I was surprised that Rob Klinkhammer made this team. And I would say that Luke Gazdic‘s game in St. Louis was superior than Klinkhammer was in Nashville. When your team is having trouble scoring goals, how much longer does Klinkhammer stay on this roster, when there are other players similar to him already on the roster?
5. Face-offs were an issue Saturday night. A have many smart hockey friends who feel the value of face-offs is over-stated. OK, but on a night like this, the Predators started a LOT of plays with the puck, over the first 40 minutes of the game, because the Edmonton Oilers couldn’t win a face-off to save their lives. So…there’s that.
4. I don’t know what took the Edmonton Oilers so long to try Nail Yakupov with Connor McDavid. The results were obvious and immediate. And while Benoit Pouliot was not particularly good tonight, he should be a perfectly good complimentary player and defensive conscience on that line. I will be mighty upset if I don’t see Yakupov and McDavid together in Dallas. There is no reason not to.
3. The Edmonton Oilers defense committed two errors tonight that led directly to the two Nashville goals. The first one was a terrible decision by Andrej Sekera at the Nashville blue-line, followed by a 5-alarm give-away that ended up in our net. Then Andrew Ference, who had played well to that point, put a bad bounce right onto a Nashville stick and Bam! 2-0 Predators.
2. Cam Talbot was terrific again tonight. He was especially good at the end of the first period, at the tail-end of (another) a failed power play, when Nashville shot back with 3 high-end chances. Talbot turned aside all 3. He didn’t have much work in the 3rd (just 3 shots), but he did what you need your goaltender to do, in the NHL: He givees you a chance to win. Right now, Talbot is a Cy Young Award-caliber pitcher who is getting absolutely no run support.
1. The Power Play. You will not win very bloody often in the NHL, when your Power Play goes 0-for-5. What stings even more is that on 4 of the 5 man advantages, the Edmonton Oilers were particularly ineffective. This is troubling for a team coached by Todd McLellan, who arrived in Edmonton with terrific Power Play credentials on his resume. But there are two other factors that you also have to consider: No Jordan Eberle, and no Leon Draisaitl. One Peter Chiarelli can not help. The other is within his control. I wonder how long he’ll wait to decide if demoting Draisaitl was an error and correct it?
The Edmonton Oilers are a much better team this season, this much is obvious. But that and two losses will get you a whole lot of nothing.
On to Dallas.