GDB 55.0: SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY

7 years ago

We love HOME games; have Liquor Depot deliver in under an hour. Click, pick, sit back and watch the game.

Oh my. Words cannot describe the joy I felt when Andy Moog stoned the giant Habs in the 1981 playoffs. Montreal was the No. 3 seed (behind the Islanders and Blues) and Edmonton came in as No. 14 seed (ahead of only Pittsburgh and Toronto). The Oilers scored three goals (one from Anderson, two from Kurri) in the first period and hushed the home crowd on the way to winning 6-3. Won Game 2 in Montreal, too. Then came home and swept les Habitants 6-2. All details are here, my thanks to Steve Lansky. Andy Moog faced 96 shots, stopped 90, for a .938 save percentage. He was beyond glorious, Claude Ruel never knew what hit him. Music!

THE BEGINNING

In desperation, the Oilers, who had flirted with two other minor-league goalies over the year, called up a baby-faced 20 year old named Andy Moog. Moog had good breeding–his father Don had been a backup goaltender with the Penticton Vees in 1955, when the Vees went to the world championship, one of the last times a Canadian team won that tournament. But Andy had been the 132nd player chosen in the draft; the Oilers had taken him from a junior team in Billings, Montana. More than almost any of their other draft choices, he was a “Barry Fraser” special. On the forms Fraser had designed to rate goaltenders, where “use of stick,”, “control of rebounds,” use of hands” and “durability” replaced the skating and checking characteristics of the forwards and defensemen he ranked high, although in practice at training camp he had frequenty looked dreadful. He was not a practice goalie, he insisted to the few people who listened to him in camp; he saved his skill for games. -Peter Gzowski, The Game of our Lives.

Andy Moog went from unknown to bright shining star in one heartbeat. The diminutive young goaler (he was listed at 5.09 but that seemed a stretch, then and now) arrived in our city in a time of tremendous need, calmed the waters, and gave the city another young hero.

Finding players from the depths of the draft, from spring signing season of college men, from Russia, from Finland and beyond, will be part of the story rolling out over the next few seasons. The magic of Moog’s arrival wasn’t that he was good—he clearly was—but that he was thrust into the spotlight and flourished in it. Young Oilers haven’t had a chance to shine in important games for over a decade, because Edmonton hasn’t played in any big moments. That, my friends, is about to change.

OILERS ROOKIES 2015-17

This is two years worth of rookie skaters, including duplicates (some players qualify as rookies in more than one season). Connor McDavid, Jesse Puljujarvi and Darnell Nurse are examples of rookie we anticipate having a major impact.

Somewhere on this list, or in Bakersfield, is a player who does not have draft pedigree but will/has emerge(d) as a big part of the winning Oilers who are being cobbled together as we speak. I would guess Matt Benning, Drake Caggiula and Anton Slepyshev all have a chance to hang around through the end of the decade and beyond. Now, it is likely one or two will end up in another city via trade, but their chance is now and each man is showing something we can project into a successful future.

LAURENT BROSSOIT

Laurent Brossoit may get a chance in net for the Oilers during a big game down the stretch. Peter Chiarelli may add a goaltender and send Brossoit to the minors for more seasoning, but the young goalie is 117 AHL games into a career that began in 2014. He has completed his audition by any reasonable definition, and now awaits his opportunity.

Part of what makes a prospect into an NHL player is performance in big circumstances, and we may be approaching that moment for Brossoit. If it doesn’t come today, it may arrive before the end of this month. Brossoit does not have a brilliant pedigree—he was drafted No. 164 overall in 2011—but neither did Moog back in the day. I am not comparing the two in terms of ability, but there is a window of opportunity that may be opening for Brossoit that is somewhat similar. The Moog Oilers were desperate for him to perform at a high level, the need is less severe in 2017. Opportunity is knocking, all the same.

LINEUPS

Oilers

Canadiens

Lineups (subject to change) are courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com

NOTES

Connor McDavid remains the top scorer in the NHL, but is just one point ahead of Sidney Crosby. With a one-week layoff coming, Crosby could pass 97 temporarily in the coming days,.
Patrick Maroon has cooled a little in the last couple of weeks, we could see the blender today.
I believe Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Milan Lucic are solid NHL players, but they need to post 5×5 offense. They owe it to their team.
One encouraging thing for the Oilers and fans: Todd McLellan is miles from panic. “We were winning the one-goal games three weeks ago… We’ll find a way to fix it.”
Matt Hendricks seems to struggle in back-to-back games, I wonder if we see him get some rest during those occasions down the stretch.
The Oilers are still in a very good spot in the Pacific Division, but a win would not go amiss today.
Leon Draisaitl is tied for No. 13 in league scoring. There is a chance Edmonton could have two men inside the league’s top 10 scorers by season’s end.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

Darren Dreger: While far from a heavy team that wears the opposition down physically, the Canadiens do wear teams down with their skating game. However, general manager Marc Bergevin has some work to do if the team is going to sustain that pace and attack in the postseason and better their chances of outgunning the big boys. Source

Rumours have Montreal interested in both Matt Duchene and Martin Hanzal at the deadline, although you can probably say that about a lot of teams.

TODAY

(Photoshop: @TomKostiuk)

GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers and Habs look slow and ineffective through most of the first period, but Montreal cashes on a late power play to go up 1-0.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The middle frame is the best part of the game, Edmonton scoring twice and Montreal getting one to leave us tied. Connor McDavid sets up both goals.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION:

No scoring in the third period, as the game grinds down to a defensive battle. Overtime solves nothing, but Edmonton gets two past the goalie in the shootout to win their final game before the break.