Penguins 3, Oilers 2 post-game Oil Spills: More of the same frustration
By Cam Lewis
6 years agoIt was more of the same last night. The Oilers played well enough to win, but didn’t. The offence outside from the usual suspects was non-existent, Cam Talbot was rock solid, and the special teams were terrible. I’ve seen this movie too many times over the past month.
Highlights
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead in the second period, but Ryan Nugent-Hopkins answered back quickly with a goal on the power play. The power play, like it was been all season, wasn’t pleasant to watch, but a nice pass from Patrick Maroon behind the net allowed RNH to sneak in and shelf the puck over Matt Murray’s shoulder. It was the 100th goal of Nuge’s NHL career.
And then this happened. My goodness this was nice. Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid forced a turnover deep in Pittsburgh’s end and then the captain went to work. He dragged two Penguins defenders across the front of the net with him, leaving Draisaitl open in the slot for an easy tap in off of a nice no-look pass. As I’ve said a million times before, it’s great having these two split up because it makes the lineup deeper, but it’s difficult to sacrifice the dynamic duo’s potent offensive threat.
This was a real tough one. With about a minute to go in the second period and the Oilers up 2-1, the McDavid line went on an odd man rush and couldn’t finish. The puck rung around the boards and Sidney Crosby led a 2-on-1 the other way against Adam Larsson because Darnell Nurse had pinched in on the play. Crosby fed the puck to Conor Sheary and tied the game.
After the game Todd McLellan mentioned that he wanted the defencemen joining the rush, though I think it might have been ill advised to do so so late to the end of the period. That said, had they buried that chance and made it 3-1, I obviously wouldn’t be questioning it.
To kick off the third period, the top line was at it again, as McDavid fed Draisaitl who got robbed by Murray on a sliding pad save. The team had a handful of chances to score in the third period but couldn’t capitalize.
The Penguins took the lead mid-way through the third on a power play goal from Evgeny Malkin. Phil Kessel slipped the puck underneath Adam Larsson’s stick and Malkin breezed by and sniped the eventual game winning goal past Cam Talbot. I’m not sure if you can really blame anyone for this power play goal, but letting Malkin slide by untouched like that is pretty soft by Larsson and the back checking forward.
By the numbers
I think the numbers tell the same story as the eye test in last night’s game. Both teams played well and it was an evenly contested game. The Penguins had slightly more shot attempts at even strength at 44 to 41, but Edmonton edged Pittsburgh in shots on goal at 22 to 21. The one place the Penguins had the advantage was in high danger chances, in which they had 13 to the Oilers seven. I feel Pittsburgh’s defence did a better job at protecting the front of the net than Edmonton’s did, and the Oilers didn’t get many high danger chances without McDavid and Draisaitl on the ice driving the offence.
Thoughts
- Edmonton’s special teams really have been the killer for them during this terrible start. Last night, the Penguins scored two of their three goals on the power play, and ultimately went two-for-four with the man advantage. For the season, Edmonton now has a 68.29% penalty kill percentage, 30th in the league ahead of only the one-win Arizona Coyotes. The Oilers power play converted one of their four chances last night, which improved their paltry power play efficiency to 13.16%. Is this a coaching issue? Is the strategy poor? Are the wrong players and combinations being used? Is it a player personnel issue? It’s hard to say, but the team certainly didn’t have issues this large on the special teams last season. With the way the penalty kill is operating, the Oilers badly need to stay out of the box. I know, easier said than done, but it was the difference in this game.
- The McDavid and Draisaitl line was buzzing and continue to be a dominant attack. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is also playing some of the best hockey of his career. But after that? The rest of the team is completely invisible. There’s no sense of urgency from the bottom six forwards and they look like they’re skating uphill when they’re trying to go on the attack. You’d think with McDavid and Draisaitl attracting the other team’s top defensive players and most of the team’s efforts going to stopping them, the depth forwards would have chances to capitalize, but that hasn’t been the case at all this season. I briefly mentioned this in the numbers section above, but five of Edmonton’s seven even strength high danger chances came with McDavid and Draisaitl on the ice.
- Kailer Yamamoto played just under 11 minutes last night and didn’t record an individual shot attempt. He was largely invisible after being very noticeable the past few games. It was his eighth game of the season, meaning he has one more freebie before the Oilers decide whether or not they’re going to burn a year of his entry-level deal. He was very good when playing with McDavid, but has been pretty meh without him. It’s definitely best to send him back to the WHL. Jesse Puljujarvi scored his first goal of the season in the AHL last night and has four points in eight games and is generating a lot of shots. I know he isn’t setting the world on fire down there, but Draisaitl only had two points in six games in the AHL before getting called up in his breakout sophomore season in 2015-16. I would rather have Puljujarvi up here in the top six than burn a year of Yamamoto’s entry-level deal.
Source: NHL.com, Official Game Page, 11/01/2017, 10:00pm MST
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