Edmonton Oilers End Futility Streak Versus Wings
The Edmonton Oilers, for the first time in 17 regular season National Hockey League games, beat the Detroit Red Wings in regulation, Wednesday night, 3-1.
Was it a perfect game? Not quite, but compared to what we have become used to seeing in these parts? It was a whole lot closer.
9 Things:
9. These are not Mike Babcock‘s Detroit Red Wings. The Wings used to be a lethal mix of high-end offensive talent, a stingy veteran blue-line, and a half-dozen players who you just HATED to skate against. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a very good NHL team. But “elite” may be stretching it…
8. Defence. And I don’t mean the blue-line. I mean team defence. It has been 6 or 7 years since the Edmonton Oilers have played with this much structure. The Detroit Red Wings actually enjoyed a decent edge in possession in this game, especially over the latter two periods. But even though they chased the Oilers the entire game, they only came out even in shots after 30 minutes of “garbage time”.
7. Full disclosure: I am admirer of Andrew Ference, and as such, I am cheering like you wouldn’t believe for this guy to have an admirable end to his career. I’ll say this: Ference IS a 40-game guy, now. But if you can get games like this one from your 7D, that will be significant. He was walked once, on a fast-developing play that led to nothing, but was otherwise gritty, physical and determined.
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6. I don’t know about you, but there have been 4 wingers on the right side with Taylor Hall and Ryan-Nugent Hopkins, so far this season, and the best by a fair margin has been the now-injured Matt Hendricks. Andrew Miller has skill, but he played with very little confidence Wednesday night. His performance did not convince me that Peter Chiarelli called up the right man from Bakersfield.
5. The line of Connor McDavid, Nail Yakupov and Benoit Pouliot. In some ways, they played like the Edmonton Oilers 1st Line Wednesday, out-chancing their opponents at one end of the rink, while being shockingly smart at the other end. Why do I say “shockingly”? Well…because 2-Thirds of that line is made up of an 18 year old rookie and the worst Plus/Minus player in the NHL last season. THAT’s why.
4. Connor McDavid scored his first goal at Rexall Place Wednesday night. And not unlike that beauty of a goal by Jordan Eberle to start off his career, this one was a spectacular effort: Nice take-away by Andrew Ference, head-man pass by Yakupov, pretty cross-ice feed from Pouliot, and then McDavid froze the Red Wings goalie, on an off-the-charts deke that should be in the hi-lights reel for a while. Wow. Just…wow.
3. Justin Schultz. That was the most complete game that I have ever seen Justin Schultz play in the NHL. He will never be Scott Stevens. But Schultz packed a whole new suitcase of tricks for this season. He is WAY better, on his own side of the pucks, and played in all situations Wednesday evening, finishing at the top of the roster with 24:14 TOI. I think Todd McLellan IS the Jultz-Whisperer.
2. Cam Talbot. This is why Peter Chiarelli traded for him. Cam Talbot walked, talked and performed like a #1 NHL goaltender on Wednesday night. The one goal allowed WAS on him, as he could not control the rebound. But was it the only rebound he gave up all night? And among his 28 saves were a couple that were not only of the spectacular glove-flashing variety: They came at critical points in the game, preventing the Red Wings from gaining any significant offensive momentum. Cam Talbot now owns a .920 save percentage! And you know what’s amazing. His back-up’s numbers are better still. What IS this…We’re not used to this feeling?
1. Nail Yakupov. Don’t look now, but the Russian is tied for the lead in Edmonton Oilers scoring. Sure, it is just 7 games, but Nail Yakupov has made the absolute most of good fortune and his abundance of talent by proving that he is perhaps the very best choice to play with the best Oiler to lace up his skates at Rexall Place since the guy they named the street next door after. His assist on the McDavid goal was sublime, but not nearly as good as the feed he gave Benoit Pouliot at the Detroit Blue Line. Oh, and did I mention he is Plus 1 so far? Nail Yakupov may finally be emerging as the player we all hoped that perhaps he could be.
Is it as strange to you as it is to me that, with a certain other Russian coming to town on Friday night, I actually feel confident that the home team may have the upper hand.
Rarefied air, to be sure.