Edmonton Oilers Bounce Back Against Bruins

It’s amazing what a little adversity can do.

Did I say a little?

Yeah, well, as bad as the Edmonton Oilers were in Toronto Monday night, they deserve credit (perhaps not full marks, we’ll get to that in a minute) for showing some pride, some fight, and ultimately coming out of a match-up against a good, heavy NHL team with a 3-2 shoot-out victory, and 2 points in the standings.

9 Things:

9. Give the Edmonton Eskimos an honorary assist tonight. The Grey Cup Champions were quite rightly honored before the game. Keep in mind, these past two days in Edmonton have been down-right fugly for the Edmonton Oilers. The fans could have been on them from the first shift. Instead, they were buoyed by the pre-game celebration. That legitimately may have bought the home team a much-needed grace period.

8. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. What I wanted to see tonight was a kid who wanted, badly, to prove wrong those who tabbed him as “soft skill”, in the past few days. And while his game was far from perfect, I DID get the sense that he battled for every puck, with 2nd and 3rd efforts. At the NHL level, the competition is so good, you can’t win all those battles. But you need to be IN them, and The Nuge was tonight.

7. Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl did not register any points tonight, but it would be hard to argue that they were not the best skaters on the ice, on either team. Between the two of them, they generated 11 shots…and new line mate Jordan Eberle contributed 3 more. Numbers 4 and 29 continue to drive this team. I expect when the scoring for them returns, it will be in bunches.

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6. At the risk of denigrating the quality of the Edmonton Oilers work, tonight, this is no longer your father’s Boston Bruins. Gone is that high-level depth that was the hallmark of this team, replaced with much more workman-like pieces. Their best defenceman by far was a noticeably slower of foot Zedeno Chara. Their record may be hiding a few blemishes.

5. Face-offs. I am a believer in possession. That you (most nights) have to have the puck the most to win. And when you start shifts with the puck, as opposed to being in chase mode, it gives any team an important edge. Interesting, then, that all 5 Edmonton Oilers who took face-offs tonight were over 50%…with Leon Draisaitl at the head of the class, at over 60%!

4. Jordan Eberle. On one hand, they do not win this game without him. Say what you will about his lack of grit and defensive shortcomings. Jordan Eberle is the purest goal scorer on the Edmonton Oilers roster. And he showed why, in the shoot-out, in fact for the 2nd time in 3 games, with a shot that Tuukka Rask barely flinched on. There were two more gaping nets in regulation that he should have buried, too. But he showed up to play, tonight. That was important.

3. There are still some troubling things about the Edmonton Oilers that did not show up directly in the standings. One was the Power Play, 0-for-5 on the night. They are pretty good once they gain the zone, but crossing that blue-line with possession was hard again on Wednesday. Another was the lack of offence from the 2nd line. That fact makes defending the Hall-Draisaitl pairing much easier. While the Nuge was better, he needs to be that much better again, on the attack.

2. Matt Hendricks and Mark Letestu. The fact was that Taylor Hall, Leon Draisaitl and Jordan Eberle played the Boston Bruins best line to a draw, tonight. Do you want them to OUT-play them? Sure, but out-playing a 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist like Patrice Bergeron is no small feat. But as they were busy doing that, the depth guys scored twice, including a critical shorty, and were a perfect 2-and-0 on the P.K. While I would have chosen the Oilers goalie as 1st Star, the choice of Matt Hendricks was not far off.

1. Anders Nilsson. All teams need a goalie to steal a point or two for their teams, and Anders Nilsson did that tonight. He faced 40 shots, including a few 5-Alarm Boston chances, and 3 more challenges in the shoot-out. It is a very good thing to get goaltending when you are struggling, as it can help you earn points that you may otherwise never win, and sometimes not even deserve (although I felt the Oilers DID deserve both points tonight). Do you start him against Dallas on Friday? I think you almost have to. The kid is so huge, he just fills the net.

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A smart hockey fan who follows me on Twitter messaged me after the game, to ask “Why can’t they (The Edmonton Oilers) do this every night? Now I’m left wondering when the next stinker will be“.

Well, yes, you would. That is the team’s fault. They have led you to doubt your confidence in them, with efforts like Mondays. It is their job to earn it back.

Perhaps tonight was a step in that direction? Bring on Dallas, Friday, and we will see.

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