The Day After -4.0: Three things from the Oilers’ 2-1 win over the Flames
By Zach Laing
1 year agoThat was a nail-biter, and not exactly in a good way.
While the Edmonton Oilers managed to come out on top in a 2-1 victory over the visiting Calgary Flames, it was a night full of tension.
Let’s dive into three things from the game.
McDavid, Draisaitl are still good
Who’d thunk!
It was great to see both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl take the ice last night. It was both of their first games this preseason, and neither looked like they skipped a beat.
McDavid was playing with his usual speed early in the game and showed some nifty dangling in tight. He played 20:47 and registered three shots on goal. With him on the ice at 5×5, the Oilers controlled 74.19 percent of the shot attempts, 73.11 percent of the expected goal share and 75 percent of the scoring chances. Goals were 1-1.
Draisaitl, meanwhile, scored a beautiful goal made possible by Kailer Yamamoto. He seemed to be a bit quieter, but was still effective. With him on the ice at 5×5, Edmonton controlled 54.55 percent of the shot attempts, 51.89 percent of the expected goal share and 50 percent of the scoring chances. Goals were 1-1 with him on the ice.
Nurse fights twice
Things got a bit wild in the third period with Darnell Nurse dropping the mitts twice, both with AHL’er Mitchell McLain.
The first came at the 6:38 mark of the third period. Nurse stepped up at the Oilers blue line laying a huge hit on Dube, and McLain came over and the two fought. Neither got any real damage in as they fell to the ice.
The second scrap came with under four minutes to go when both players dropped the gloves right off a faceoff. Evander Kane, meanwhile, laid a pretty hefty crosscheck to the head/neck are of McLain right off the draw and seemed to want to fight as well.
This scrap saw both players exchange some blows before falling to the ice.
Foegele – Nugent-Hopkins – McLeod works
The Oilers’ third line was arguably their strongest of the night. At 5×5, the trio controlled 81.82 percent of the shot attempts, 100% of the expected goals (.64-0.0) and 100% of the scoring chances (5-0).
These three were around the action all night, and Foegele had his best game of the preseason so far. It was one that might turn some heads heading into the final week of training camp. Both he and McLeod had a few breaks into the offensive zone. On one in the first period, Foegele hit the gas on streaking up the right side of the ice, made a nice move around a defender and drove to the net with the puck.
If Foegele wants to stick around, he’s going to need to play just how he did last night every night. He has the size and the ability to play a bigger man’s game while still generating some offence. Let’s not forget he scored 30 points in 68 games with Carolina in 2019-20, and still put up 26 points in 82 games last year.
The Clips
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
#NATIONVACATION TO LAS VEGAS
- When: On Thursday, January 12th, we’re jumping on a flight at the Edmonton International Airport and making our way to Vegas. On Sunday evening, we’ll fly back from Vegas to Edmonton. So the dates that you need to block off for this trip are January 12th to 15th.
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