[GAME RECAP] Oilers 6, Ducks 2.

Let’s get this part over with quickly tonight: the Oilers were in Anaheim after embarrassing themselves in Los Angeles. Jack Campbell was in, Vincent Desharnais was given his debut, and Jay Woodcroft switched up the lines some. Let’s go.

First Period

The Oilers took the initiative from the opening puck drop, with Ryan McLeod — playing with Leon Draisaitl tonight — hitting the post from in tight within the first minute of the first period. It took them less than 4 minutes to take the lead, via Dylan Holloway, who started the game on the first line alongside Connor McDavid:

1-0. LFG.

A minute or so later, they struck again. This time, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins chose to shoot from just above the far circle, and it hit something en route and eluded John Gibson:

2-0. LFG.

On the next shift, Vincent Desharnais — making his NHL debut tonight — took an interference penalty at centre ice, but the Oilers were able to kill it off. That had to help the confidence of the PK unit after they were soundly bludgeoned for 4 PPGA last time out.

Play proceeded for a few uneventful shifts before Anaheim clawed one back through Sam Carrick:

2-1.

As annoyed as we were about that goal, Connor McDavid seemed to take it personally. He responded as such about 90 seconds later:

Like what the fuck are they supposed to do? When McDavid decides, nobody’s stopping him. Insane stuff. Even more insane is that, coming into tonight, the Oilers were 21-21 on the season and they’ve got a guy who can do that whenever he wants.

3-1. LFG.

Edmonton continued to absolutely shit-pump the Ducks for the next few shifts before Anaheim took a penalty for not knowing what comes after 4. The top unit PP didn’t need to score, so they can be forgiven for not scoring in this instance.

About a minute after the penalty expired, Klim Kostin picked the puck off in the high slot and made no mistake:

4-1. LFG.

Jack Campbell actually had to make a decent save toward the very end of the period as the Oilers kind of switched off a little bit, but that was as close as the Ducks came to getting back into it before the first intermission. 4-1 on the score board, 17-8 on the shot clock, ~72% on the... 5v5 Corsi For clock?!

Second Period

Games that are effectively over after one period are tricky. Especially so if one of those teams is easily the worst team in the league and that team is the team down 3. At home.

The pace slowed, the impetus slowed, and everything veered a little closer toward going through the motions. Then Mattias Janmark decided to do something and set up Kostin for his second of the game around the 8 minutes into the period:

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1613390119100379139?s=20&t=RqExG2EMH4HuuPqulF8wwg

5-1. LFG.

The game continued, believe it or not, and eventually the Oilers drew another penalty toward the end of the period thanks to a nice sequence from Desharnais. Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft opted to put the salt away instead of shove a handful into Anaheim’s open raccoon wounds by throwing out a different mix of players to start the man advantage, but the PP scored anyway:

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1613396587056861184?s=20&t=RqExG2EMH4HuuPqulF8wwg

6-1. LFG.

The sixth goal came with about a minute left in the period. Nothing happened after it, really. The Oilers were cruising. 6-1 on the scoreboard. Outshooting the Ducks 37-17. ~64% of the expected goals at 5v5.

Third Period

Anaheim found a consolation goal 48 seconds into the third period through Simon Benoit’s — and no, I don’t know who that is either — point shot:

6-2.

Play continued for a few minutes without incident before Janmark drew a penalty on Kevin Shattenkirk. Again Woodcroft opted to just throw out whoever he goddamn felt like on the PP but, this time, the Oilers didn’t score anyway.

Shattenkirk found himself on a clean breakaway right as he came back on the ice after a McLeod turnover and a lack of awareness by the Oilers D but Campbell turned him aside.

The rest of the game happened, but by this point my popcorn chicken was done and I was preoccupied. Nothing important happened. It was 10:30 on a Wednesday night, give me a break.

6-2 final. Shots 53-23. ~67% xGF%.

Unwanted Opinion

It’s worth noting how bad the Ducks are. Tonight was basically a must-win game, but mostly because of how bad Anaheim is. Teams on the bubble cannot afford to drop points to the Anaheims of the league. Job done.

Ooooo, Fancy

Courtesy: Natural Stat Trick

Courtesy: Natural Stat Trick

Up Next

San Jose on Friday night. Puck drops a shade past 8:30PM MST. At least it’s a Friday.