Oilers 6, Avalanche 4 post-game Oil Spills: Offence up, Klefbom down
By Cam Lewis
5 years agoThe Oilers got their difficult two-game road trip through the Central Division off to a good start. They beat the high-flying Colorado Avalanche 6-4, giving them two offensive explosions in their last three games.
What happened…
Getting offence from the bottom-six! Darnell Nurse carried the puck behind the net, wrapped in out front, got a shot on net, and Kyle Brodziak picked up the rebound for an early 1-0. This play began with nice boards work from JJ Khaira and a smart pinch by Nurse to join the play.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a couple goals half-way through the second period, then Leon Draisaitl fed Connor McDavid with this insane saucer pass that pretty much iced the game. Draisaitl has the puck on his backhand and sends it tape-to-tape to McDavid mid-stride.
Mikko Koskinen might have allowed four goals, but he still had a damn good performance. The Avs are a team with firepower who can very quickly erase leads. Koskinen allowed, I’d say, one soft goal, which was Mikko Rantanen’s goal in the second, but he stopped 39 of 43 shots and ensured Colorado couldn’t get a comeback going with some big stops.
Unfortunately, it wasnt’t all good news last night. Oscar Klefbom left the game with an injury and it was reported after the game he had a broken finger and will miss “weeks.”
By the numbers…
It’s hard to look at numbers from a game like this because so much of the stats are tilted due to score effects. The game was tightly contested in the first 30 minutes, but after the Oilers went up 4-0, score effects came into play. The Oilers reverted back into a shell to slow the game down and preserve their lead and Colorado started to rise up on the shot attempt clock. Still, even though Edmonton conceded 17 shot attempts in the third and only had five of their own, they gave up only two high danger chances.
Thoughts…
- Emotions from this game are obviously conflicted. All in all, it was a great showing against a good team on the road. But still, it’s hard not to be upset that Oscar Klefbom got injured. That’s going to be a tough injury to navigate as Klefbom has been Edmonton’s horse on the blueline this year. It’s also really unfortunate timing as the team is starting to hit its stride this season.
- Still, Klefbom injury aside, that was a really promising win. The Oilers have now scored seven and six goals against Minnesota and Colorado respectively, two teams who figure to be in the playoff mix this year. While I do agree grinding out 1-0 wins against Calgary is fine, I would much, much rather see the Oilers blowing up for five, six, and seven-goal explosions.
- One of the brightest spots behind Edmonton’s recent offensive surge has been Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He’s generating offence without Connor McDavid on his line, which is huge. RNH now has 29 points in 31 games, putting him on pace to shatter his career-high of 56 points.
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