Edmonton Oilers slow to put the New York Rangers away

New York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan was the bench boss that kept Connor McDavid from winning gold last winter during the Olympics.

Safe to say McDavid got another dose revenge in what was a 3-1 victory for the Edmonton Oilers against the Rangers. Though it wasn't the soundest of efforts from Edmonton, they were able to complete the season sweep of the Rangers with the help of another strong performance from Leon Draisaitl and goaltender Devon Levi's eighth win of the season.

Bad news for the TV show fans reading this piece: Vincent Iorio, who portrayed Garrett Graham for the on-ice scenes in the hit hockey romance Off Campus, was not involved in the game.

Now to the analysis.

The Oilers got off to a very fast start. They couldn't turn it into sustained pressure.

The Oilers put pressure on the Rangers from the opening puck drop, almost immediately getting the puck towards the net and creating an offensive spell. The first three minutes as a whole belonged to the Oilers, who were able to keep the Rangers from consistently getting out of their own end.

That said, the only tangible result the Oilers got from the first 10 minutes of the game was a goal from McDavid that came off a terrible giveaway from Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand. Trust me, you'd have to see it for yourself; it was like Garand was trying to gift McDavid the upcoming LEGO Godzilla set (honestly, who wouldn't gift a LEGO set?).

Maybe LEGO Godzilla would play more defense than Jake Walman?

Who knows, but maybe LEGO Godzilla could have created a little more pressure going into the Rangers' end, especially when considering that the Oilers seemed like they were going to turn this into a strong game in terms of the overall offensive play. Instead, the Rangers were the far better team offensively on Monday, outshooting the Oilers 29-20 and doing enough in their own end to keep the Oilers from piling on too many chances.

The same can be said for the special teams play ...

So ... what happened with the power play?

The Oilers went 0-for-3 on the power play, which ended an 11-game streak where the team had scored at least during that situation.

That metric included a blown two-player advantage and a short-handed goal, which came immediately after the aforementioned power play and brought the Rangers within one goal of the Oilers.

That said, the Oilers' penalty kill remained strong against a Rangers power play that has ranked in the bottom half of the league standings in that regard. Edmonton got past all five of the Rangers' power play opportunities; that success included navigating a late-game push where New York had a 6-on-4 at one point.

But even with the penalty kill's continued success (the unit has now navigated seven straight), the Oilers could still have done a lot better in terms of the special teams play.

... but a few other positives continued on Monday

With the late empty-net goal in mind, the Oilers have now scored at least three goals in 16 of their 18 contests this season. They also haven't scored fewer than three goals in eight games.

Elsewhere, Draisaitl now has goals in each of his last four games; each of the latter two have seen him score twice. With Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild back in action on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens, Draisaitl has assumed a two-goal lead in the Rocket Richard race.

Mattias Ekholm can put points on the board, but can he cement himself as a second option behind Evan Bouchard?

With an assist on Monday, Mattias Ekholm brought his point tally to nine having played 17 games so far this season. He also has points in four straight games and six of his last seven.

While the points firmly puts him into second on the team in terms of points from defensemen, he isn't yet the second defenseman behind Evan Bouchard once again. Mike Babcock's decision to shake up the defensive lines during training camp already put him behind the eight-ball in that regard; though he is slowly working his way back to that point, a continuation of this form and additional contributions on the defensive side of the game will be required in order for this return to be confirmed.

What's next?

The Oilers will conclude their homestand on Wednesday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers. The Oilers will enter the 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time contest with a chance to temporarily assume the mantle of first place in the entire league.

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