Welcome back, Ales Hemsky. We missed you.
The Oilers opened their 2012/2013 NHL regular season by destroying the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night. By "destroying" what I'm actually saying is, the Oilers won in a shootout. When you've finished 30th, 30th and 29th in the league over the last three seasons, an OT win on the road is "destroying" someone, regardless what the final score was.
Here's my Good, Bad, and Ugly Analysis:
The Good
- Jordan Eberle was absolutely amazing, as usual. Sickest hands in the NHL. As is the custom with Eberle, he scored a highlight reel clutch goal during an Oilers season opener. Backhander over the shoulder of Luongo with around 4 seconds to play in the 2nd period. If the Oilers would have went into the 3rd period down 2-0, they likely wouldn't have come back in the game.
- Devan Dubnyk was solid. A few people thought the first goal he let in was soft, but not me. Corey Potter made a bonehead play, screening Dubnyk so he couldn't see the shot. Dubnyk did everything required of a starting goalie in order to give his team a chance to win.
- Justin Schultz looked like a veteran. He was dynamic with the puck. If Roberto Luongo wasn't playing as well has he did, Schultz would have had a his first NHL goal during in the game.
- Ales Hemsky. What can I say? Game tying goal plus the shootout winner. He was flying all over the ice. It was the Hemksy of old: Healthy, clean, smart, slick...If this Hemsky remains all season, he'll finish the season second in scoring for the team.
- Ladislav Smid and Jeff Petry were mean, strong and dominant. In them, the Oilers have a shutdown pairing of significance.
- Ralph Krueger let the kids play. This wasn't no Tom Renney team. Even though the Oilers were losing, they looked, played, and acted differently from the team last season. It's hard to describe. Confidence...That's the difference. They looked confident.
- Shawn Horcoff, Eric Belanger and Ryan Smyth played great. Especially Horcoff, who was solid defensively and came close to scoring a couple of times. Which brings me to...
- Oilers depth at all positions. Because of the roster depth the Oilers now possess, the opposition can't shut down the Oilers as easily. You can't play your shutdown unit against everyone, so you saw opportunities open up for the Oilers 2nd and 3rd lines.
The Bad
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a tough night. He couldn't hit the net with any of his shots, and some misses resulted in huge opportunities for the Canucks going back the other way. Nuge still looks too small for the NHL to me.
- Nail Yakupov looked like a kindergarten kid on the first day of school. He has talent...that was clear during several moments during the game...but he also looked nervous and confused as to what to do every time he got the puck. He's going to need time to adjust to the NHL; mostly, the speed of the game and what players need to do things in order to succeed.
- Sam Gagner wasn't good. Yes, he did score in the shootout, but I felt he played a weak game. Was nowhere to be found during the Canucks 2nd goal; couldn't win a face-off to save his life; was battled off the puck several times by the Canucks. A healthy Hemsky + an experience Yakupov probably makes up 2/3 of a great line. Sooner or later, Gagner might need to go.
The Ugly
- The defensive pairing for Ryan Whitney and Corey Potter was terrible. Potter in particular was responsible for one of the goals against, and both Canucks goals were scored with these chuckleheads on the ice. It's a safe bet Potter will be out and Mark Fistric will be in for the Oilers game on Tuesday.
- Face-offs. The Oilers continue to be a disaster in the face-off circle. The only player who was plus was Eric Belanger, and he received more ice-time as the game continued because of it. If these team is ever going to be in the playoffs, they need to get better at face-offs. We know Ryan Nugent-Hopkins isn't going anywhere off the roster, so once again we're likely talking about the #2 center position being the position that requires a player change.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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