The parade of Stanley Cup Finalists continues tonight at Rogers Place. After hosting the 2017 finalists Predators and Penguins on Saturday and Tuesday, tonight the reigning 2018 champion Washington Capitals are in town. The Oilers are getting a first-hand look at what true Stanley Cup contenders look like, and while the Oilers were competitive in both games, they were unable to get a victory.
Picking up a victory tonight to give them a 1-1-1 record during the three games would be a huge confidence boost. If you want to be considered a good team, you need to beat the great teams. Tonight is another opportunity for the Oilers to prove they can hang with the big boys.
We know Connor McDavid can hold his own against the best in the NHL. He has produced 7-15-22 in 20 career games v. Nashville, Pittsburgh and Washington, and tonight I expect he will see the ice a lot again.
He played a career-high 28:26 on Tuesday and the Oilers improved to 2-1-1 in games he plays 24+ minutes this season. Twenty-eight minutes is an oddity — it was only the second time in his career he’d played 28 minutes — and I don’t expect that to be a regular occurrence, but I have no issue if McDavid averages over 24 minutes/game this season.
Why wouldn’t you play him that much? He is the best player on the team and the most dynamic player in the NHL. He is the best skater in the game. He is only 21 years of age and just entering the prime of his career. I see no reason not to play him 24 minutes a night. He can handle it, and he likely will be able to handle it for a few more seasons. Down the road when he is 25 and older I see his minutes dipping a bit, but right now I see no concern in unleashing maximum McDavid.
Rod Brind’Amour at 35 years of age averaged 24:18/game in 2006 in 78 games. The Carolina Hurricanes won the Cup that season. I’m not saying the Oilers are a Cup contender, but even good teams will play their top players a lot. McDavid is an effortless skater and his skating style allows him to conserve energy.
In 2009 when the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup, Evgeni Malkin played almost 23 minutes a night. Sidney Crosby played 22 min/game. They had two dominant centres and rode them a lot.
I’ve read many suggesting the Oilers have to play McDavid 24:34/game because they have little depth. That is partially true, but Mark Schiefele is playing 22:40/game on a deep Winnipeg team. McDavid is more impactful than Schiefele, who is a really good player, so why wouldn’t you play him a bit more? Even if the Oilers had more depth I’d still play McDavid 24 minutes a game. If he is only at 90% on a few shifts, his 90% is still better than bottom six players’ 100%.
He is in great shape. His cardio is the best on the team. He loves playing a lot, and he knows how important rest is. He hasn’t been taking morning skates on game days this season, and likely won’t as the season progresses. Players are more in tune with their bodies today than ever before. McDavid is well aware of the importance of proper sleep, nutrition, stretching, physio and other decisions that allow him to play big minutes.
Former NHLer and current TSN analyst Ray Ferraro said this about McDavid’s increased ice time.
“He’s not racing around for 45 seconds on every shift. He’s like a shark or a predator. He waits and looks at certain areas and then all of a sudden, bam, he’s off. One shift he had on Tuesday I actually laughed because he went through the Penguins like they were pylons. He went all the way through, and then he was the first one back. I was thinking, ‘How did he do that?’ It is actually kind of funny that he’s able to do that. I think because of the way he skates, and the way he can save his energy, because he has a good understanding of what’s going on, I think he can play more minutes than most can. He’s not going to blue collar grind it out. He doesn’t have to do that. So I think it’s possible,” said Ferraro.
No one is expecting him to play 28 minutes regularly, but I think it would be a good use of his skill if he averages 24 min/game this year.
LINEUP…
Oilers
RNH-McDavid-Yamamoto
Rieder-Draisaitl-Chiasson
Lucic-Strome-Caggiula
Khaira-Brodziak-Marody
Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Russell
Gravel-Bouchard
Talbot
Jesse Puljujarvi could be a healthy scratch tonight. He and Zack Kassian were on the ice well after the optional morning skate, which is usually a sign of who isn’t playing. Kassian got banged up in the Pittsburgh game, and Todd McLellan wouldn’t confirm who was in or out, but those two look like they will watch from the pressbox this evening.
Many really good players have been healthy scratches early in their career, so spending one game in the pressbox doesn’t mean Puljujarvi is finished. Far from it. But if it stretches out to three or more games, then it makes much more sense to send Puljujarvi to the minors.
I asked Todd McLellan how a coach balances trying to develop a young player and winning. He didn’t answer directly and talked about different scenarios, but did say Puljujarvi is no different than most other players. Or course there are some exceptions, but for those who haven’t established themselves as regular, everyday NHL players, regardless of draft status, the ones who play well will stay in lineup, and those who struggle might take a seat.
I’d much rather ask Peter Chiarelli that question. The coaches job is to win games, while management and scouts should be the ones thinking about development. The NHL is not a developmental league. Players are always evolving and learning, but I see the NHL as a league where a player refines his game. It is too difficult of a league to try and find your game.
I don’t blame Puljujarvi for struggling. He wasn’t NHL ready at 18, and shouldn’t have been here and it is the organizations job to protect him. Sending him down to the AHL as a rookie after 28 unproductive games was wise, but I’d have kept him in Finland at 18 and let him gain confidence, and I would have strongly encouraged him to get an English translator. You can’t change the past, but moving ahead this season the organization has to take a long look inward and realize they need to put Puljujarvi in the best position to succeed. If that means a stint, or a long stay, in the AHL, then do it, and have the courage to not worry about how it might look to those outside the organization.
Capitals
Ovechkin/Kuznetsov/Smith-Pelley
Stephenson-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Eller-Connolly
Jaskin-Dowd-Burakovsky
Orlov-Niskanen
Kempny-Carlson
Orpik-Djoos
Holtby
Do not take a penalty. Do not take a penalty. That will be the Oilers mantra tonight. The Capitals PP is deadly with 12 goals in 31 chances and they are a league-best 38%. I spoke with defender Matt Niskanen about the Capitals PP. He defends all the top players in the league and opposing powerplays so I wanted to get a PKer viewpoint on his team’s PP.
“They have been together for a while now so they are really good at reading which areas of the ice are open,” said Niskanen. “Teams will try to kill us differently with different tactics that we see, and our guys are very good at seeing what is open. I think what hand shots we are sets up well, having two lefties cycling and distributing and three right shot options. We actually don’t have a lot of movement, but are guys adjust very quickly.”
I asked him about defending the Oilers five lefties powerplay.
“There are some areas of the ice you can pressure guys to the backhand, and there are very few players in the league who are as efficient on their backhand as they are on their forehand. If you can push it to one side and force more backhand plays you might have a chance for some pressure and create a turnover that way.
“The other big thing is one-time options. If they are all lefties then you know what direction the one timers are coming from and you can adjust accordingly, but I’ve noticed they set up more on the left side recently,” said Niskanen.
TONIGHT…

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers and Capitals continue the offensive trend from Tuesday. Oilers come up one goal short, losing 4-3.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Both teams score a powerplay goal.
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Alex Chiasson has five two-goal games in his career, but he has never scored three goals in a two-game stretch. He achieves that tonight.
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It’s frustrating seeing how good McDavid is and how mediocre the oilers are right now. I think a lot of us thought by this season the oilers would be legit contenders and consistent contenders for the next decade. It’s not happening.
Poor management and gm’ing. It’s a dead horse I know but man is it ever obvious.
These guys have to get a belief system installed in themselves that they are good enough. They have to start the game like they are as good as their opponents instead of waiting for something to go wrong before they kick into gear.
All NHL players and teams are good. We have talent. Confidence does so much for hockey teams.
A win tonight would do so much for the psyche of this team.
Get it done. Whatever it takes. Gooooooooo Oilers!!!!
Disappointed JP is out tonight we could use his size against the Caps.
But we haven’t missed him and he’s done nothing this season.
Not sure what this team yet. After last game, I thought Oil had goaltending issues. The flames have goaltending issues. That is the Mike Smith I remember from the desert.
Who cares about Smith? Talbot had a good game and this was a nice team win for the Oilers. No matter what the team will survive this nasty 10 game brutal schedule at minimum .500 that is a good thing.
Dude. They are a Pacific division rival the Oilers HAVE to beat if they have a remote chance of making the playoffs. The Oilers did not finish strong against the flames to finish last season. Like many years ago when Sutter started coaching the flames – the first thing that had to stop for the flames to get into the playoffs started up highway 2.
LOL the Shames are starting to realize i was right about them, a lot of cliff diving on Foolsnation.
If they can play the way they did against the Pens and get some timely goaltending, the Oilers can win this game. Looks like Draisaitl is starting to perform how he needs to.
Talbot is playing, so your timely goaltending request is out the window.
Nice save Cam. Well played ??
Yes, yes it was. Good ‘ol Cam! Love me some #33
Just looked at the stats and what do yah know! Brayden Holtby is sporting a .886 sv% so far. And yet he is still considered a “starter”, right Oil Nation?
Man is that building quiet,
I hate it when my apples don’t taste like oranges.
FIRST NHL GOAL FOR BOUCHARD!!!!!!!!!!!!
End of the 1st.
Blocked shots:
WSH: 1 EDM: 10
Giveaways:
WSH: 1 EDM: 9
Correlation is not causality, but it’s close.
Penguins have aTOUCHDOWN, Suck it Calgary…lol
Just saw the TSN Scoreboard over here in Malaysia, can’t help but have a laugh at he Pens vs Flames score… GO OILERS!!!
ANOTHER ONE FOR CHIASSON! What a find! 3-1 Oilers
It wasn’t Chia that found and sign him.
It was Toddy.
WHAT IS THIS TEAM WE’RE WATCHING?! I’m loving it! Who said the Oilers don’t have any secondary scoring!?
I’d like tonight to be *off the schneid* night for a few guys. It would be nice for one or more of Strome, Rieder, JJ, etc… Put up a point.
I like where they have Chiasson, and would be very happy if Marody could play next to McDavid.
Dear god.
Remenda.
(Gets to synching the radio to the tv…)
I do it every time lol
I do as well. Sure wish there was app for it.
Radio player Canada?
Does it synch?
Yuh have to love the fact that the Lames are down 4-0 to the Pens after the 1st in Calgary!
NUUUUUGE!!!!
That goal was Nuge!
Calgary just getting destroyed!! 7-0!
Flamesnation is imploding right now. So funny! But I feel their pain… nah! I just wish it was the oilers doing that to them.
NSOGDP: 2nd face-off violation penalty in two games.
Not sure the hockey gawds love that.
I take back everything I MAY have said earlier. I love this team, all is good with the world. Seriously though, good for Bouchard & Talbot & Nuge & Chiasson. Good team win
Well I enjoyed that. Maybe this press box thing will work. Keeps people accountable.
Good night of hockey, the Oilers beat Caps and the Flames…lol…those Flames…lol
Any Flames trolls tonight? They look sweet out there
Yea but were still playing .500 hockey* calgary fans probably.
I guess ON has visited by many Flames trolls normally that after THAT beat down by Pens and this site is pretty quiet.
Awesome game. Really looked good and dominant most of it. Holtby made some great saves that kept that score lower. Congrats to Bouchard and his first goal!!!
Holtby is playing really well today that he took away 3 breakaway chances by McDavid. Good for Nuge to give the puck to McDavid on that last play.
It’s getting better.
I see a team competing for one another.
Forget trades. Let this team steep for a while. The first 18 games of the season are out of the division. If they are at .500 or better I want to see how this team competes against the Pacific. Anything like the last two seasons and they’ll be fine.