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Watching this sport that the Oilers try to pass off as hockey is almost unbearable sometimes. Tonight's game was one of those games and it started with the blue line and never really got past it.
Highlights
The Good
Despite being a really bad game, there were a few good points.
Goaltending
The Oilers allowed Anders Nilsson to face 51 shots tonight. That’s right 51 shots! Sure he didn’t post a shutout but he still had a respectable 0.941 SV% in tonight’s game and that was after allowing 3 goals. In fact even after starting the season 0-3 the only people not to blame on the Oilers right now is the goaltending.
goalie performances in three games talbot (STL) 28/30 .933 SV% talbot (NSH) 24/26 .923 SV% nilsson (DAL) 48/52 .941 SV% = .926 SV%
— Jeff Chapman (@NewWaveOil) October 14, 2015
As hockey fans and Oilers fans we know that won’t be the case for the whole season but at least it’s nice to start the year without goaltending questions.
McYak Attack
When the Oilers won the McDavid lottery one of the first things many smart people (including myself) said was that Taylor Hall - Connor McDavid - Nail Yakupov needed to be a thing. We were told repeatedly that the Oilers couldn’t have too many goal scorers on one line or some other BS that didn’t make sense. Well tonight showed just how well those two play together. Tonight for the first time since Ralph Krueger left the Oilers, we saw Yakupov play like he likes to play, with passion.
McDavid scored his first NHL goal (I’ll circle back to this) and Yakupov was in on the Oilers first real goal of the season.
McDavid’s First Goal
As I mentioned above Connor McDavid score his first goal of his NHL career. It was a deflection of Andrej Sekera’s point shot and it tied the game at 2. It wasn’t a Jordan Eberle highlight reel goal but it still counts.
The Bad
Oof this is a tough one. I may just have to jump to the ugly.
The Ugly
Once again the Oilers have arguably the worst defense in the NHL. It’s almost like no one in coaching or management knows how to evaluate defensemen or at least don’t realize how bad the Oilers’ defense is.
The Breakout Pass
Todd McLellan is running his defense much like how he ran the Sharks defense, the only difference is he doesn’t have Justin Braun, Bent Burns or Marc-Edouard Vlassic. Nope instead McLellan has Eric Gryba, Brandon Davidson, Justin Schultz and about 10 other 7th or 8th defensemen and that is whole problem with his system. In San Jose McLellan could have his forwards past centre and expect his defensemen to make a crisp tape to tape pass for the zone exit. In Edmonton he’s lucky if the defensemen can even find the puck in their own skates. I may be coming across very cynical but I’m not, this actually happened a couple times in tonight’s game. The Oilers cannot make a controlled break out of their own zone and that rests on the shoulders of the defense.
Defending In General
I’ve gone through this many many many times. The Oilers defense is lacking. The best example came on the 3rd goal against. @EdmontonRaider breaks it down the best (give him a follow, it’s well worth it):
@Kinger999 @loxyisme Yak was very good defensively again, but with 3 mins left was stopped on a breakaway, was first forward back, Schultz
— Raider Jesse (@EdmontonRaider) October 14, 2015
@Kinger999 @loxyisme followed puck carrier as Yak was backchecking, Puck carrier crossed over left it for Spezza who was left alone.. goal.
— Raider Jesse (@EdmontonRaider) October 14, 2015
@Kinger999 @loxyisme now 20000 people talk about Yak being shit defensively Le Sigh
— Raider Jesse (@EdmontonRaider) October 14, 2015
Ok so this wasn’t all on the defense but Schultz needed to skate there and do his job. Yakupov takes all the BS from the fan base because of his "lack of defense" but he was trying there, while the defense just let the whole play develop.
Thoughts
Until Edmonton fixes it’s defense things aren't going to change. The obstacle with that is that Wingus, Dingus and Mumbly Joe helped destroy any chance of real players wanting to sign or be traded to Edmonton, so the issue becomes a perpetual cycle of awfulness. The only way that Peter Chiarelli can fix it now is by trading someone that he doesn’t want to for someone that can help the team start winning now and bring respectability back to the team. I think shooting for the playoffs may be out of the question but 0.500+ season would do wonders for this team in many respects.
Up Next
It’s ORANGE JERSEY DAY!!! The day that all of us die hard Oilers fans have been waiting for. The Oilers get to wear their 3rd jerseys while facing off with the St. Louis Blues at Rexall place. See you Thursday!!!