Edmonton Oilers Stun Canucks 2-1 In O/T
The Edmonton Oilers did Sunday night in Vancouver what is not an easy thing to do in today’s NHL: Win, in the 2nd of back-to-back road games. They only did that once in 11 tries, last season. And suddenly, a season that started 0-and-4 and with the cynics falling all over themselves to proclaim “here we go again”, is now 2-and-4, and with 7 of the Oilers next 8 games coming up at Rexall Place. That is a WHOLE different animal. 9 Things:
9. Daniel Sedin will surely see that gaping open Edmonton Oilers net that he missed in the 3rd Period in his sleep for a long, long time. And then, when he wakes up, it will be playing over and over and over again on Sportscenter. But hey…that, my friend, is why NHL nets are built 4×6, and not 5×8! Wow.
8. Anton Slepyshev had an unspectacular 1st Period, and Todd McLellan didn’t wait for it to get better. The coach put career 4-th liner Rob Klinkhammer on a combo with Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and against all odds…it worked! Klinkhammer ended up only 1 of 3 Oilers with a positive Corsi on the night. Amazing.
7. I said it on Twitter, earlier in the night: Eric Gryba is no gazelle, but I have been pleasantly surprised with his game. He played a calm, controlled, physical game on the back-end. When the Edmonton Oilers acquired him, I thought he would be a 7D at best. So far, I have no problem admitting that I may have misjudged him.
More from Oilers News
- 3 Oilers Players Who Should See An Expanded Role In 2023 And 1 Who Should Not
- 3 Oilers with the most to prove this season
- Edmonton Oilers Name Jeff Jackson CEO Of Hockey Operations
- How Long Will The Edmonton Oilers Wait To Sign Evan Bouchard?
- Edmonton Oilers Sign Ryan McLeod, What’s Next?
6. O.K., we can confirm it: Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov play very well together. What I see is Yakupov figuring out the fact that he may get the puck at any time, in any circumstance, from his 18-year-old line-mate. And as pretty as McDavid’s feed was, on the Power Play, Yakupov made no mistake, on a goal scorer’s goal. Arrows up.
5. The Edmonton Oilers have now won 2 games within their division, 6 games into the season. So what? Well, last year, they won FOUR games in their own division…in 29 tries. 29!!! Now…sure, small sample, I agree. But winning against the West if the Edmonton Oilers are ever to be a playoff team is essential.
4. It is all too easy for Edmonton Oilers fans to dump all over the usual suspects. This town is famous for having it’s whipping boys, although after 9 years, I guess I can understand some of that. But as you follow along with those who (despite the win, for the love of God) are spending all their team joking about the Oilers D-men, well…the Edmonton Oilers had 4 give-aways tonight. Vancouver had 17. So…there’s that!
3. Taylor Hall was the engine that ran the Edmonton Oilers offence all night long. Hall had 5 shots on the evening, and created a number of other chances, to complete a terrific road trip for #4. But you could expect that on offence. Where I see Taylor Hall better, this year, is along the boards…where there is more tenacity in that aspect of his game. To my eye, he is winning more of the tough puck battles than he used to. You do that with strength, experience, and attitude.
2. Lauri Korpikoski had a whale of a game. If I’m being honest, I had to look up Korpikoski when we obtained him in a trade for Boyd Gordon. Well, I know him now. Korpikoski played a brilliantly-gritty game along the boards all night long, and was also very effective on the fore-check. He did little to make himself look like a goal scorer, but otherwise had impressed the pants off me. Then, to be transparent, just as I am about to Tweet that very observation he scored the Overtime winner. Honorable mention to Andrej Sekera, who stripped Henrik Sedin of the puck, and head-manned to puck to Korpikoski for the winner.
1. As good as Lauri Korpikoski was, Sunday night, the main reason he was even in position to score the winner was because Anders Nilsson was terrific. Nilsson stopped 33 of 34 shots, several of which being of the 5-alarm variety. The best stop of them all was in the 2nd Period, on a 2-and-0 opportunity by Svend Baertschi which Nilsson deftly turned aside. We’ve talked a lot over the past few seasons how the Edmonton Oilers just didn’t have the goaltending to steal them a game, when they need it the most. Well, I’m not sure he exactly stole this game, as the gap in shots was not massive (34-24 Canucks), but he certainly earned a 1st Star selection.
As I said…2-and-4 won’t win you the Stanley Cup, but it’s better than a good, swift kick in the pants.
The Red Wings are next, Wednesday.