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Oilers 1, Stars 0 (OT) post-game Oil Spills: Welcome to The Trap
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Photo credit: © Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Cam Lewis
Nov 28, 2018, 12:55 ESTUpdated: Nov 28, 2018, 14:29 EST
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Ken Hitchcock was making his first appearance in Edmonton last night as the head coach of the Oilers against the Dallas Stars, the team where it all started for him. The Oilers rewarded him with a tight, gritty 1-0 win. It was perfectly fitting homecoming for the defensive guru.

What happened…

I’ll be honest, this was a pretty boring game. It was two teams playing the trap and there wasn’t much offence. The Oilers kept the Stars, for the most part, to the outside, and a lot of this game was spent going back and forth in the neutral zone.
The Oilers almost gave it away in the dying seconds of the game. For some reason, Jamie Benn was allowed to slide into the slot completely unnoticed. Alex Radulov carried the puck behind the net and hit Benn but Mikko Koskinen came up huge to ensure the team had a chance to win in overtime.
The Oilers won the game in overtime twice last night. The first time came when Connor McDavid got sprung on a breakaway and the puck rolled past Anton Khudobin and just over the line. The refs called it a no-goal and then went upstairs and the war room confirmed the call despite the fact the puck was clearly over the line.
It didn’t matter, though, because Leon Draisaitl would find Oscar Klefbom for the game-winner shortly after that. You can’t call that one back.

By the numbers…

The Oilers really carried play in the first period, but slowed down a little bit in the second and third. Neither team did much driving offensively as the final shots on goal at even strength were 26 to 24 for the Oilers. It seemed once the third period rolled around both teams were playing for overtime.

Thoughts…

  • Like I said, that was a pretty dull game. It was very early-2000s with both teams playing a tight defensive style. Still, if that’s what’s going to win the team games, I couldn’t care less. I kind of figured with this top-heavy roster the Oilers are best to play a complete shell when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl aren’t on the ice and that’s what’s happening now with Ken Hitchcock behind the bench. If the other three lines can shut the opponent down, you should be able to rely on that McDavid line to provide the offence you need to win. It won’t be pretty, but it’s how things have to work with this roster. The Oilers don’t have the depth to play an open, run-and-gun style right now.
  • Mikko Koskinen has earned himself The Answer belt. After a 28-save shutout, he now owns a .923 save percentage on the season. He gives the Oilers a chance to win in each of the games he plays and he’s undoubtedly taken the net from Cam Talbot at this point. Of course, as we’ve seen in the past with other goalies, this could be a flash in the pan, but Koskinen is rolling right now, so you have to ride it. His save at the very end of regulation was nails.
  • I quite liked the game from The Identity Line against Dallas. They played most of their minutes of Dallas’ top line of Tyler Seguin, Alex Radulov, and Jamie Benn and the Oilers’ trio shut them down. The Identity Line held those three to just two high danger chances for while beating them in shot attempts eight to five in the roughly seven minutes they played against each other. This trip being gritty and hard to play against is key to the team’s success. I don’t care if they don’t score, they can be effective if they’re doing this against top lines.
  • Jesse Puljujarvi was a nice fit on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ wing. RNH plays a smart and responsible game defensively giving the young Finn some margin for error. Puljujarvi was rewarded with roughly 14 minutes of ice time including a shift at the very end of the game. He played with more confidence than I’ve seen from him this season.

Post Game

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