Puljujarvi Shines as Oilers Sweep Senators

The Edmonton Oilers completed the two-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators with a 4-2 win on Tuesday night. Jesse Puljujarvi leads the Oilers with two goals on the night while Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl get the other markers. Evan Bouchard also picked up his first NHL assist tonight.

The win marks the team’s third in a row and moves them into a tie with the Vancouver Canucks for fourth place in the North division.

It was a much tighter game than Sunday night’s 8-5 goal-fest but an entertaining game nonetheless. I got the complete recap here for your reading pleasure...

First Period:

The beginning of this saw the Ottawa Senators put up a little more of a fight. They were getting pucks into the Oilers end and pinning them in. This pressure, however, would quickly dissipate as Edmonton got more comfortable. It would be another gnarly period for the Sens.

Darnell Nurse would get the game's first goal of the game after a point shot deflected off a Senator and past Marcus Hogberg. 1-0 Oilers at the 10-minute mark. Jesse Puljujarvi would then pick up the highlight of the period after a great second effort to beat Hoberg to get his first of the season. 2-0 Oilers as Jesse proves his haters wrong.

Leon Draisiatl would make it a tidy 3-0 less than two minutes later after holding onto the puck and catching Hoberg way out of position as he lasered into the net for his 7th of the season.

The Oilers started the period off a little slow but quickly turned the tide to take a demanding 3-0 lead into the second.

Second Period:

Things started to slow down in this period. The Oilers started the period by having to kill two consecutive penalties which they did with relative ease.

Puljujarvi, once again, had the highlight of the period as he had a beautiful deflection on a point shot by Evan Bouchard that beat Hoberg. Puljujarvi’s second of the game and Bouchard’s first NHL assist gave the Oilers a comfy 4-0 lead five minutes in.

Cedric Paquette would eventually get the Senators on the board late in the period as he stopped a point shot in front and let a shot of his own fly by Koskinen. The Oilers lead was cut to 4-1.

Edmonton would have a couple of chances to extend their lead on the power-play but it wasn’t clicking like it was on Sunday. Oilers hold the 4-1 lead at the end of 40.

Third Period:

The Oilers had the lead and they held the lead in this one. The Senators tried to mount a pushback but the home team was shutting down everything they threw at them.

Well, almost everything. Tim Stützle got his second in as many games to cut the Edmonton lead to 4-2 in the last minute.

It would be too little too late as the Oilers took home their third consecutive win and finally move to .500 on the season!

4-2 Oilers win!

Takeaways:

• Three players stood out in a good way for the Oilers tonight: Jesse Puljujarvi, Evan Bouchard and William Lagesson. Puljujarvi got the monkey off his back with his first two goals of the season and it came at the perfect time. Lagesson was a defensive stalwart tonight and had more than a few fantastic plays in his own end. Lastly, Bouchard showcased his offensive abilities with a few great passes and an assist on Puljujarvi’s second. Can’t see how Tippett takes Bouchard or Lagesson out of the lineup.
• Similarly, two Oilers stood out in a bad way: Kris Russell and Alex Chiasson. Russell was indecisive offensively and was his usual self in the d-zone...which wasn’t good. Chiasson’s presence on the power-play continues to baffle me as he is obviously not a great fit. He cleared waivers this morning and it shows.
• Mikko Koskinen came back into the net after a rare rest and was stellar. Held the net all night long and was solid.
• Powerplay wasn’t the worldbeater it was on Sunday but it didn’t matter in this one. The big story was the successful penalty-killing. The team killed off all five penalties against and didn’t allow a whole lot of quality chances against. That being said, a lot of unforced penalties that will need to be sorted.
• The Oilers complete the sweep and improve to 6-6-0 on the season! .500 never felt so good! They will try to get to win #7 this Saturday as they visit the Calgary Flames for the first edition of the Battle of Alberta!