Edmonton Oilers Lead Early, Hang On Late In 4-2 Win

The Edmonton Oilers got a better balanced attack, Monday night, on the way to a relatively rare regulation win, 4-2 in Florida, in front of a whole bunch of empty red bleachers. The 2 points are essential in keeping the Oilers in the playoff race, but the win did come at a steep price yet again. We’ll get to that sobering news in a moment.

9 Things:

9. Iiro Pakarinen did not get a point on the score sheet, but he was terrific tonight. It is games like this that may preserve his NHL job when the Oilers finally get healthy (if that EVER happens). Played a fast, heady, gritty game, leading the Edmonton Oilers with 9 hits. Great effort.

8. Two Edmonton Oilers who don’t get much credit for their defensive work made sparkling plays Monday night. Nail Yakupov prevented a goal with one back-check, Leon Draisaitl saved a goal with a similar effort later. You count on those guys for offence. When you get D, it’s a plus.

7. First of all, kudos for Todd McLellan for putting Taylor Hall (2G, 1A), Teddy Purcell (1G, 2A) and Leon Draisaitl (1A) back together. They have serious chemistry. One play that particularly caught my eye was when Leon Draisaitl beat a Florida Panther to the puck in the attacking zone, and ultimately set up a Taylor Hall marker. Opposition players keep underestimating his speed.

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6. The Edmonton Oilers were having a hell of a time getting the puck across their own blue-line in the first period, a trend I was waiting to back-fire on the club, but it never really did. By the 2nd Period, the likes of Darnell Nurse and Justin Schultz started making shorter, smarter plays, and ended up above-water in terms of possession. Brandon Davidson didn’t get the same Corsi bounce, but was also very good, and led the D-Core in TOI (22:19).

5. Matt Hendricks played almost as complete of a game as one can, Monday night. First, he engaged in the predictable 1st Period fight, stepping up a weight class against Eric Gudbranson…essentially, retribution for the hit on Aaron Ekblad 2 weeks ago. Hendricks took his licks, which seemed to light-up the Edmonton Oilers bench. He ended up with 3 hits in 16 minutes (with Nugent-Hopkins out), and went 68% in the face-off circle. Better still, Gudbrandson sounds like he broke a knuckle on Hendricks’ head. Awesome.

4. Andrej Sekera, normally the Edmonton Oilers best defenceman, had disasterous back-to-back shifts in the 3rd Period that made this game way closer than it should have been. The Oilers entered the period with a commanding 3-0 lead, and looked to have the game reasonably well in control. But then one errant Sekera pass went off Leon Draisaitl and in. Then Sekera missed his assignment net-side against Quinton Howden, in the very next shift, to leave it 3-2 Panthers. That’s as close as it got, but…Yikes!

3. Early on, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the best of the Edmonton Oilers skaters. He made a lovely play to set-up Jordan Eberle on his goal, and was nothing short of spectacular on the penalty kill (mind you, the Edmonton Oilers were great, period, shorthanded on this night). I was beginning to think “O.K., the kids is finally breaking out”. Then, yet again out on the PK, Nugent-Hopkins blocked a shot with his hand, and did not return from it. Word is: Long-term hand injury. Of COURSE it is. This team leads the NHL in man games lost to injury, don’t you know.

2. Cam Talbot quieted more than a few of the critics who thought too high was the dollar figure in his newly signed 3-year contract. But Talbot was flat-out terrific again, versus Florida, hung out to dry by his veteran defenceman on the only 2 goals he allowed. Talbot finished with 31 saves, a number of them high-quality chances, including a circus-like sprawling effort against Dmitry Kulikov late in the game, on a shot he had no business whatsoever stopping. Save of the game.

1. I’ve said it many times in this space: When your best players are better than their best players, you will win a large majority of the time. That was the story for the Edmonton Oilers Monday, as Taylor Hall broke out of his mini-slump with just a terrific effort. He was smart and contained on defence (gone were the give-aways from the Calgary game), and he put up 2 goals and an assist on Offence. When this guy is flying, as he was tonight, I would put him up against any winger in the NHL. Terrific player. Terrific. Did you hear that, Hallsy-haters? Terrific.

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The regulation win gives the Edmonton Oilers a 19-23-5 record and 43 points, back within 5 of a playoff spot in the Pacific. Encouraging. On the other hand, they play back-to-road games in Tampa tomorrow, with Nugent-Hopkins headed to the I.R. After the game, some members of the media speculated that Connor McDavid may now come back from injury early. After all…he’s on the road trip & skating with the team. I posed this poll on Twitter, post-game:

“With just 3 Oilers games left before the All-Star break, do you replace Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with…

An AHL Center: 57%
Connor McDavid: 43%

What would you do?

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