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Edmonton Oilers (SS) 4 Calgary 2 (SS): 9 Things

By Kurt Leavins |

The Edmonton Oilers scored a come-from-behind, 4-2 win over the Flames Monday night. The game featured a lot of the scrambles and shaky structure that one would expect from a split-squad exhibition match. But, in fact, it told us a great deal about how this team is developing. I won’t comment on the game in Calgary, other than Darnell Nurse can really throw ’em, huh? Instead…9 Things, from the Rexall Place game:

9. Andrew Miller was effective on the night, with one goal, another sparkling chance, and an over-all dangerous performance with the puck. Miller certainly has a job ahead of him to make this club, but he did not hurt his chances Monday night.

8. Andrew Ference and Nikita Nikitin were a study in contrast. Ference was exposed once, along the player’s boxes, but over-all he actually moved his feet and made calm, smart plays. Nikitin struggled, especially early. He has a big hill to climb.

7. I don’t expect Jordan Oesterle to play a Norris-worthy game in his own end, but both he and Brandon Davidson were in trouble a lot tonight, especially for one prolonged fire drill in the D-zone. Davidson looked slow.

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6. Cam Talbot let a suspicious looking one in, early, but finished above-average on the night. Laurent Brossoit was actually the best goaltender on the ice, and made several saves prior to the tying Edmonton Oilers goal, to keep it close.

5. Save for one play, Andrej Sekera looked like a top-pairing NHL D-man. He’s solid on his feet in his own zone, can move the puck and has decent vision. But his decision to turn into traffic with the puck led to a turnover and the Flames short-handed goal. That was not a veteran play. I hope we don’t see more of that.

4. The fact that the Edmonton Oilers were down to the Flames, bent but didn’t break, and eventually came back to win demonstrated immense growth for the team. I’m used to seeing them fold like a cheap tent. Now, this was hardly a top-tier opposition that they were facing tonight, so we shouldn’t get too excited yet. But still…

3. Nail Yakupov, for perhaps the first time in his young NHL career, had a better defensive game than he had an offensive one. Not once but twice, he foiled Flames chances with tenacious back-checks. Nice. He was solid on offence, and picked up an empty-netter that you like to see a guy get when they’ve worked that hard. Arrows up for Yak.

2. Connor McDavid started cautiously, which is really not such a bad thing for a young player in his first real-ish NHL contest. Most importantly, he was very tidy on the right side of the puck. In fact, I thought his game took off after he single-handedly killed 30 seconds of a Flames power play. Then, in the 3rd, he made two short, neat but highly effective passes that led to goals by Draisaitl and Yakupov. Named 1st star, we got more than a couple glimpses into just how good this kid will be.

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1. As good as Connor McDavid was, really, Leon Draisaitl was the best player on the ice on either side. As a center, he was 9-and-3 at the dot. He made one impressive back-check that showed his straight-ahead speed to be greater than most assume it is. And on offence, he JUST missed setting up Taylor Hall on a brilliant cross-ice feed, before connecting with McDavid on the tying goal, which was a beauty. Whether on wing or at pivot, he took a huge step tonight toward cracking this lineup.

Finally, what a fun night to be in the rink. The mood was buoyant from the start, and didn’t wane as the Edmonton Oilers fell behind. And when the chorus of “Lets Go Oil-Ers” filled Rexall Place, the team actually responded, instead of allowing some circus-like goal against that snuffed out so many of those chants last season. It was a win that left you feeling as if you could win the next one, too.

The Jets are next.

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