GDB 7.0 Wrap Up: Capital Punishment

7 years ago

81-1 here we come! Final Score: 4-1 Oilers

To this point in the season, the Oilers have only had one true measuring stick to show where they’re at as an organization — last week’s 3-1 win against the St. Louis Blues. Tonight’s game provided another chance for Edmonton to show that the hot start we’ve seen so far wasn’t just some fluke. For the Oilers to be taken seriously they need to find ways to beat good teams and find ways to do it consistently. To win tonight’s game, the Oilers needed to play tight defensively, get great goaltending, minimize their mistakes, and keep Washington’s offensive weapons in check. The last time these two teams met at Rexall Place, Washington coasted to a 7-4 victory, so it goes without saying that this was a big game.

Coming into the contest, the Capitals had scored the first goal in all of their games to start the season and the Oilers needed to make sure that the visitors weren’t gifted an early lead. In the first few minutes, Edmonton found themselves back on their heels, and allowed Washington to generate some early chances, but was able to settle in and kept Washington off the board. In the middle frame, the Capitals controlled the play but weren’t able to find the net, leaving an opening for the Oilers to stay in the game and eventually take the lead. It was another time when the Oilers showed that they could bend but not break, and, on the back of some excellent goaltending from Cam Talbot, the Oilers found themselves up by two goals with 20 minutes to play.

In years past, the Oilers would take leads into the third period only to find new and creative ways to shit the bed and lose the game. I would always have this feeling of impending doom that the wheels were going to fall off and that the Oilers were going to find a way to lose. This year’s edition of the Edmonton Oilers doesn’t have me feeling the same way, although when Ovechkin scored only nine seconds into the third period that familiar feeling tried to creep back in. Fortunately, the Oilers responded just over a minute later with a goal of their own and never looked back from there. The Washington Capitals are a pretty damned good hockey team and the Oilers spit them out like everyone else on this four-game winning streak. When was the last time we could say that?

Let’s wrap it up.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

The Pouliot-Nuge-Kassian line has been taking some heat for not producing enough offence so far this season, but they produced tonight. Nuge made some filthy dangles to enter the zone and Pouliot was perfectly placed to deflect his wrister past Holtby. They followed that goal up with another second period marker to silence the critics for at least one night.
Isn’t it incredible that Connor McDavid is an Oiler? I still can’t believe it. He didn’t have the wild end to end rushes that we’re always waiting for, but he still managed to control the play and put up two points on the board. The kid is an absolute magician.
When Milan Lucic sets up in front of the net you will never be able to move him. He set up shop on the Oilers fourth power play of the night and made a perfect deflection for his third goal of the season.
Patrick Maroon had been a little bit quiet over the past few games and I was excited to see him score. Maroon was in the right place at the right time and cleaned up a Puljujarvi rebound in the slot for his second goal of the year.
Speaking of Jesse Puljujarvi, he registered his first career NHL assist on Patrick Maroon’s goal. He was in the mix a lot more tonight, and you have to hope that the young man is getting more comfortable with himself and his surroundings.
Cam Talbot continues to play well after the horrible night he had against Buffalo in the third game of the year. Since then, Talbot has been rock solid and tonight was no different. Talbot remains undefeated in the dad era after stopping 34 of 35 shots for a .971 save%
Adam Larsson had another quietly excellent game tonight. He was positionally sound, laid the body whenever he had the chance and made clean breakout passes all night long. Who knows if his offence will ever show up, but the defensive side of his game is on point.
Actually, I thought all three defensive pairings had good nights. Even though the Capitals were able to generate a bunch of shots a lot of them came from the outside or with a clear view for Cam Talbot.
The penalty kill was solid, killing two early power plays in the first period that would have given the Capitals an early lead. The Oilers’ PK has been strong so far this season and they were perfect tonight, killing off all three Washington power play attempts.
It’s still strange (though awesome) to see the Oilers actually getting involved in scrums after the whistle. Normally, we’d be used to the other team pushing them around but that just isn’t the case this year. Obviously, Chiarelli added bigger guys to the roster, but to see them defend each other is what’s most encouraging.
The Oilers finished the night at 54% in the faceoff circle (Nuge 63%, Lander 60%, Letestu 60%, Draisaitl 50%, McDavid 33%)

THE FACE PALMERS

Who got another offensive zone penalty? Benoit Pouliot. In a way, I admire his consistency but I really wish his thing was something other than penalties. But what are you gonna do? To be fair to Benoit, the call against him in the first period was pretty weak. Pouliot got a second penalty in the middle frame which you know had to piss off Todd McLellan. Poo is lucky he had a two-goal night or else he may have been riding the pine again.
The power play makes me want to rip my arm off and smash my TV into a million pieces. How can a team with so many offensive players have such a horrible power play? It defies logic.
At some point, Drew Remenda will stop calling Tyler Pitlick “Lance” right?
I’m pretty sure TJ Oshie was trying to injure Talbot when he fell on him and started cross checking the goaltender in his own crease. Unfortunately for Oshie’s face, Talbot threw a few solid blocker shots that seemed to connect nicely.
Alex Ovechkin is so much fun to watch and it’s a bummer that we only get to see the Oilers take on the Capitals twice per year. The guy has been one of the best players in the league for years and I always look forward to seeing him play. That said, I wasn’t overly happy that the Oilers allowed Ovi to score only nine seconds into the third period.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
No Scoring

2ND PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
07:48	Edmonton	Benoit Pouliot (2) ASST: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (3)	0-1
17:08	Edmonton	Benoit Pouliot (3) ASST: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (4), Oscar Klefbom (2)	0-2

3RD PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
00:09	Washington	Alex Ovechkin (4) ASST: Matt Niskanen (4), Andre Burakovsky (1)	1-2
01:25	Edmonton	Patrick Maroon (2) ASST: Jesse Puljujarvi (1), Connor McDavid (6)	1-3
09:57	Edmonton	PPG – Milan Lucic (3) ASST: Andrej Sekera (3), Connor McDavid (7)	1-4

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NATIONGEAR POP-UP STORES AT VACANCY HALL

Before each and every home game we’ll be putting on a NationGear pop-up store at Vacancy Hall (10363 104th Street NW – in the Mercer building) for a couple hours before puck drop. Feel free to swing by before (store closes an hour before puck drop) to upgrade your wardrobe with the latest NationGear without having to wait for shipping. The next pop-up shop will happen on Friday. See you there!