Penguins 3, Oilers 1 post-game Oil Spills: Shut down
By Cam Lewis
5 years agoThe Oilers put up a fair effort against the Penguins last night, but the team’s lack of offensive firepower really showed. Edmonton grabbed an early 1-0 lead and couldn’t rally back after Pittsburgh scored two goals of their own in the second.
What happened?
The Oilers got off to a good start, grabbing a 1-0 lead after Connor McDavid fed Leon Draisaitl on a two-on-one for his 33rd goal of the season. Draisaitl set a new career-high in goals with this one. Another thing to note on this play: It’s great having Oscar Klefbom, far and away Edmonton’s best defender in transition, back on the ice. He starts this play with a great defensive effort and first pass out of the zone on his backhand.
The Penguins tied the game up in the second period when Bryan Rust scored a short-handed goal with Edmonton’s power play unit just standing around. This was a real backbreaker. The Oilers have a tough time scoring, their power play has been actually quite good as of late, and they had been solid at even strength, then they go ahead and let the Penguins back into the game with a shorty. On this clip, it’s hard to tell which team has the man advantage.
The Penguins grabbed the lead a few minutes later thanks to some more ugly defensive zone work. I hate to be critical of McDavid given he has so much heavy lifting to do, but he just stands there and lets Teddy Bleuger skate right in front of the net for an easy tap-in goal. Any defensive effort on that play and the Penguins don’t score a goal.
Edmonton’s best chance to tie the game came in the third when Connor McDavid was awarded a penalty shot. We’ve seen this move work many times before in the shootout, but this time, Matt Murray was ready for it. The Penguins would go on to ice the game with an empty-netter with under a minute to go as the Oilers couldn’t manage to get a consistent attack going in Pittsburgh’s end late in the third.
By the numbers…
The Oilers played very well yesterday at even strength. They beat the Penguins in terms of shot attempts 56 to 44 over the course of the game. A lot of that came in a dominant second period in which Edmonton had 21 shot attempts to Pittsburgh’s nine. One very damning thing, though, is the fact the Penguins still managed to torch Edmonton when it came to high danger chances despite the Oilers being the better team in terms of possession. The Penguins had 16 high danger chances and the Oilers had just nine on the game, and Edmonton managed just one at even strength when down one goal in the third period. That says a lot about where this team is at.
Thoughts…
- Mark Spector had a controversial tweet last night, saying that both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl needed to be better defensively. I’m of two minds when it comes to this sentiment. At first, I was agitated by Spector calling out the team’s top two players when they’re tasked with so much heavy lifting. I find there’s been a pattern here in which media and fans are critical of the stars (Hemsky, Hall) for the team’s woes rather than the poor depth around the rest of the roster. But then as I watched plays from last night’s game, I realized he isn’t exactly wrong. McDavid’s effort on Pittsburgh’s eventual game-winner was really, really bad. As I said above, he deserves a pass for how much he brings to the team, but we can’t just totally absolve McDavid of any kind of criticism. We had a front-row seat last night to Sidney Crosby and his amazing two-way effort. Late in the game, Crosby was a machine down low, making it hard for the Oilers to break the puck out of their own end. While McDavid is faaaaaaar from an issue on this team, there’s validity behind being critical of areas of his game, especially on nights in which we see just how good Crosby is at both ends. McDavid and Draisaitl were pretty much the only threats offensively for the Oilers last night, but they also gave a lot back on the other side of the ice. They were on the ice for five high danger chances (of Edmonton’s nine total) but they were also on the ice for 10 of Pittsburgh’s 16 high danger chances.
- As I’ve already stated, this game really pointed out how devoid the Oilers are of offensive firepower. McDavid and Draisaitl accounted for Edmonton’s only goal and five of their nine key chances at even strength. The other three lines combined for four high danger chances and were a non-factor in the third when chasing the lead. There’s no immidiate solution to this. The Oilers simply need more depth offensively because you can’t expect perfection from McDavid and Draisaitl.
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