Edmonton Oilers Spoil Nurse’s First With 4-3 Loss
The Edmonton Oilers stormed back from an early 2-0 deficit, only to sag in a 43-second stretch of the 3rd…punctuated by defensive breakdowns by two rather unlikely culprits. Make the final 4-3 Wild, dropping the Edmonton Oilers season record to 3-and-7…
…with the 9-and-1 Montreal Canadians up next. Gulp.
9 Things:
9. Yes, he gave up 4 goals, but you could not really fault Cam Talbot on any of the four. And it is hard to argue that he didn’t give his team “the save”, either, as I felt he did. Exhibit “A”: The larceny he committed on Jason Zucker with 3 1/2 minutes to go in the 2nd, after a prolonged fire drill in the Oilers zone.
8. It looks very much as if we may see another call-up from Bakersfield in the morning. Rob Klinkhammer had to leave the game with what appeared to be a badly injured knee, he staggered of the ice and limped to the dressing room. Don’t look now, but the injuries are really starting to stack up.
7. If you will pardon my French, the Edmonton Oilers 3rd and 4th lines couldn’t piss a drop (again) Tuesday night. This is becoming a serious probe for Todd Mclellan and Peter Chiarelli…considering they looked to break camp with 3 scoring lines. But then Jordan Eberle got hurt. And Leon Draisaitl got sent down. And, and, and…
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6. Mark Fayne was terrible tonight. But he had company. His partner, Andrej Sekera, was narrowly better. Brandon Davidson was scrambling most of the night. And HIS partner, Eric Gryba, combined a generally decent night with a 5-alarm give-away that cost his team the game. Tell me again how we don’t miss Justin Schultz??
5. The Connor McDavid, Nail Yakupov, Benoit Pouliot line was very good again Tuesday night, and Taylor Hall aside…were the only Edmonton Oilers that posed any consistent threat at all. Yakupov has points in a career-high 6 consecutive games. McDavid was on fire early and late, and absolutely scorched Justin Fontain not once but twice.
4. Taylor Hall was excellent, on Tuesday night. I can not understand how so many people are off his team, when he brings efforts like this on a pretty consistent basis. He had a lovely finish on the first goal, and a beauty set-up on the 2nd. He played over 21 minutes, contributed on offence 25 times, and was named 2nd Star.
3. Connor McDavid once again had the game on his stick in the fading seconds, but while he did beat Dubnyk on the deke, the puck skittered across the goal line and back under the sprawling goaltender. Lest I not give him sufficient credit, Devan Dubnyk DID play the deke exceptionally well, and did not give 97 much to work with. Credit where credit is due.
2. Darnell Nurse scored his 1st NHL goal Tuesday, on a bullet from 30-feet out that beat Devan Dubnyk. That is what will make the hi-light reels, but Nurse’s play was solid-to-excellent all night, and improved as the night went on. Nurse’s ability to break up the withering Minnesota cycle, break the puck out and punch it into the offensive zone was unequaled by any other Oiler. He and Oscar Klefbom together were excellent. Sadly, the gap between them and the other 4 D-men was tragically wide.
1. I was hoping that Darnell Nurse would have been my #1 Thing tonight. But two defensive lapses by players that should (and usually do) know better almost certainly cost the Edmonton Oilers 2 valuable points. On the tying goal, the normally dependable Ryan Nugent-Hopkins flat-out failed to shoulder check, allowing Ryan Suter to slide in from the point. Then…THEN…Eric Gryba inexplicably rung the boards from behind his own net, while under no pressure whatsoever. The predictable turnover came back the other way. Brandon Davidson failed to block the lane, allowing a pass to find Cralie Coyle, who the normally dependable (notice the trend?) Anton Lander all but ignored at the goal mouth. Sweet God.
The positives? Quite a few, really. The Edmonton Oilers continue to hang in there in practically every game. But 6 points in your first 10 games puts the club in dangerous territory.
If the points don’t start to come, and soon…this much improved Edmonton Oilers team risks being out of the playoff picture disappointing early.
And the Montreal Canadians are next. THAT will be a tall order.