GDB 28.0 Wrap Up: Death by bottom six, Oilers fall to Canucks in disappointing 5-2 loss

4 years ago

Boys were generous tonight. Final Score: 5-2 Canucks

Can I be so bold as to start off tonight’s Wrap Up by saying how much I despise the Vancouver Canucks? Looking back, I think the seeds of my hatred were really planted during the Naslund/Bertuzzi days with full bloom being reached somewhere in the Sedin era, but now those residual effects carrying forward into whatever is going on there now. And while I know that the rebuilding Canucks aren’t as dominant as the clubs that came before them (yet?), I still can’t help but feel like beating them into the ground is the only satisfactory outcome and that anything less was going to be a real bummer. Not to mention, this was the late game on Hockey Night in Canada, meaning the Oilers had the chance to prove to the country that they are for real, and, much more selfishly, I was really hoping to cap off the evening with a celebratory Brum rather than beets.

As always, one of the most important things we needed to see was for the Oilers to get off to a quick start and set themselves up for success. What actually happened was that they took an early (bad) penalty, weren’t able to kill it off, and gave the Canucks the window they needed open the scoring and steal an early lead. As it turns out, special teams were a big story early on as Vancouver was able to get themselves on the board while both up and down a man. The good news is that the Oilers refused to quit and that resiliency allowed them to claw their way back into the game with two straight makers, tying things up with some timely goal scoring from their top line. Unfortunately, tying the game up was where the good news stopped as the Canucks were able to restore their two-goal lead by simply outworking the Oilers at almost every turn, and the home side wasn’t able to grind their way back for a second time.

At the end of the day, being down by two goals on two separate occasions was too much to overcome, and the Oilers had better make sure to put a better foot forward for tomorrow’s rematch because they were outworked all over the ice in this game and, frankly, deserved to lose. To put it mildly, this was nowhere near good enough for a team that’s trying to show the hockey world that they belong in first place.

The wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Only seconds after the Canucks extended their lead, @Connor McDavid brought the Oilers back to within one (2-1) after finding a loose puck in the slot and quickly releasing it past a sprawling Markstrom. After having a quiet night in Colorado, McDavid was back with another multi-point effort as he took over the NHL lead in points from his linemate, Leon Draisaitl.
@Zack Kassian tied the game up with a perfectly placed wrist shot that beat Markstrom and deflected in off of the post. On the play, Kassian allowed McDavid to charge towards the net which opened up some room for Kass and he took full advantage of the space.
It’s almost a shame that @Cale Makar and @Quinn Hughes are both rookies this year because I feel like the work Ethan Bear is putting in on the Oilers’ blue line isn’t getting the love it deserves. I mean, I know that Oilers fans are behind the kid 2000%, we see the way he keeps getting better at both ends of the rink, but he hasn’t drawn as much outside attention as I feel like he should. To me, people should be screaming his name from the mountain tops, and since they won’t, I feel as though I must. Bear picked up another assist tonight and now has nine points (4G, 5A) on the year. Ethan Bear, we speak your name.
Sam Gagner keeps doing what he can to fill in for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 5v5 by adding another assist to his totals with a helper on McDavid’s first period marker.
It was an interesting call by Dave Tippett to keep Caleb Jones in the lineup in favour of Matt Benning who was just activated off of the Injured Reserve, but I thought the rookie put in another steady performance.
Oilers won 53% of the faceoffs. It didn’t matter but they did.
At least Frank got it right? #FranksPicks

THE FACE PALMERS

Tyler Graovac opened the scoring for the Canucks a power play goal that he absolutely ripped by Smith upstairs. The puck actually hit the back bar so hard that it bounced out quickly enough that the play continued for a few seconds before it was whistled down, reviewed, and declared a good goal. Not the start the Oilers wanted, to say the least.
@Tanner Pearson gave the Canucks a two-goal lead with a shorthanded 2-on-1 goal that came only moments after the Oilers had the puck crawl across Vancouver’s goal line at the other end of the ice. No luck at one end led to a goal against at the other — such is life. Pearson added a second goal late in the second period after he was able to hack away at a loose puck in the crease and have it inch its way over the goal line to restore Vancouver’s lead (3-2).
Is anyone else surprised the @Loui Eriksson got his first point of the season against the Edmonton Oilers? You’re not, are you? No, I didn’t think so. The slump buster streak continues.
The Canucks’ bottom-six came up with all kinds of offence tonight and you don’t lose many games when that happens. To put it another way, I was just unhappy the whole time I had to watch the Oilers getting outworked by players that had no business driving the play, and they had better pull their shit together for tomorrow’s rematch.
Frankly, the Oilers were outworked in all three periods and that was incredibly disappointing and frustrating to watch.
@Mike Smith was back between the pipes for his 15th start of the season, as Dave Tippett continues to roll with his two-on, two-off goaltending rotation. Early in the first period, I thought Smith looked a little bit shaky, but as the game progressed, he looked like he was going to settle in. Unfortunately, Smith wasn’t able to lock things down and while the Canucks certainly had their share of grade-A chances, you’d hope that he’d be able to pick up another save or two. In his last five appearances, Smith has now allowed 18 goals against which is a far cry from where he was at earlier in the season. Smith finished the night with 33 saves and a .868 save%.
I miss Nuge.
Normally a highlight, the Oilers’ special teams were not as sharp as we’re used to seeing tonight as they were not only shut out on the power play but they also allowed a shorthanded goal against at the same time. To make matters worse, the Oilers weren’t able to keep the Canucks off the board while shorthanded either, amounting to a rare special teams loss.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
03:31	Vancouver	PPG – Tyler Graovac (2) ASST: Tanner Pearson (9), Adam Gaudette (5)	1-0
13:32	Vancouver	SHG – Tanner Pearson (6) ASST: J.T. Miller (15)	2-0
14:14	Edmonton	Connor McDavid (19) ASST: Ethan Bear (5), Sam Gagner (4)	2-1

2ND PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
05:05	Edmonton	Zack Kassian (9) ASST: Connor McDavid (30)	2-2
13:47	Vancouver	Tanner Pearson (7) ASST: Bo Horvat (13), Quinn Hughes (20)	3-2
18:04	Vancouver	Loui Eriksson (1) ASST: Bo Horvat (14), Tanner Pearson (10)	4-2

3RD PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
01:21	Vancouver	Josh Leivo (3) ASST: Bo Horvat (15), Jake Virtanen (5)	5-2

#GOODCONTENT

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