From fans demanding that Woodcroft be fired to singing his praises and planning the parade after the first win of the season. Hockey season is officially back ya'll!
After the doom and gloom of Game 1, the Oilers came out of the gates in Game 2 firing on all cylinders and after crashing the net hard, just a minute into the game, leading to a Draisaitl goal. It seemed like the Oilers were back to looking like a Cup contender once more...
Until they weren't as a leaky defense and mediocre goaltending led to the Oilers losing 4-3 in regulation, despite outshooting the Canucks 40-16. The defense and PK both looked lost and frantic and like they weren't sure where they were supposed to be. The epitome of that was the 2-0 goal that was scored just a minute after Connor tied the game 2-2. Foegele took a bad angle shot which went all the way around the boards to Pettersson and Studnicka with Nurse attempting (and failing) to get back in the play.
Thus the Oilers began the season 0-2 and fans started to freak out, as Oilers fans are prone to do. My slightest more tempered concerns were as followed:
The wingers weren't doing anything. The biggest problem the Edmonton Oilers had against the Vegas Golden Knights was their top six wingers weren't producing. Hyman, RNH, and Kane simply did not produce when they needed to. In the first two games this continued to be an issue for Edmonton. Specifically Kane and Brown both were looking like a massive anchor on McDavid's wing.
Specifically I want to talk about Evander Kane because while it is very early in the season, there are some worrying trends setting into place. Kane has never been fleet of foot or a defensive juggernaut but the reason Edmonton brought him in and then extended him was because he was a strong volume shooter.
Last season despite only playing 41 games, Kane still had the 4th most 5 on 5 shots on the team with 126. Leon Draisaitl who played 80 games had 119 5 on 5 shots. So far this season Kane only has 3 shots in 3 games. It is a far cry from the 3+ shots a game Kane was registering last season, even after his injury. If Kane isn't scoring he isn't doing much to help his teammates and if he isn't shooting than he isn't going to score much. This is something to continue watching closely.
The goaltending didn't concern me through the first two games as much as others were panicking. In Game 1 the Oilers defense and forward core both were horrendous and didn't provide any form of support. Game 2 was more on Skinner but let's look at the four goals: - A tip in shot on the powerplay - A tip in shot after Hyman failed to clear the zone - A 2-0 play after Foegele took a bad angle shot and Nurse couldn't get back into the play - Sam Lafferty driving to the net, pushing past Ekholm the entire time
Obviously you hope your netminder can make one of those saves but I still put much of the onus here on the Oilers forwards and defense. Once again, when the Canucks pushed pace with speed, the Oilers seemed hard pressed to match.
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After the sky falling for nearly a week, it was good to see Oilers fans get to exhale after a 6-1 pounding of the Predators. Ironically in terms of possession, it was the Oilers worst game this season but Jack Campbell stood tall, looking very much as he did through pre-season and the team in front of him played far better and limited their egregious mistakes.
While the headlines certainly highlight Leon Draisaitl breaking the all time Oilers powerplay goal record, and Connor McDavid adding another highlight reel goal to his repertoire, the biggest story of that game to me was the RNH-Foegele-Hyman line.
Stacking McDavid and Draisaitl has always been the nuclear option. The jump start to the roster when nothing else is working. The issue with it is always that the second line heavily struggles when Draisaitl is not on it. Last night the second line dominated, with each player on that line (Foegele, RNH, and Hyman) all scoring a goal at even strength.
If Edmonton keeps McDavid and Draisaitl together than they have the best top line in the NHL. I don't expect the second line to be that effective every night but if they can play with that level of pace and come out above 50% in the scoring chances race than this team becomes highly dangerous in a different way. Again, we are talking about a very small sample size here so let's wait for a month or so before making any definitive statements.
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Last Thoughts
Ekholm looked better in his second game. Maybe it's just adjusting back after not playing any pre-season games but Ekholm still looks a step off. I hope it's just a matter of playing more and not that his injury is still bothering him. This team needs Ekholm at 100%.
Nurse, Bouchard, and Ceci have all really struggled in their first few games. Bouchard is still making the strong outlet passes that make him so effective but he has been slow to react to oncoming plays. For Darnell Nurse, I don't know what to say at this point. He is a veteran of over 500 games at this point. If he hasn't figured this out by now I don't know that he ever will.
They haven't scored yet but the third line of McLeod, Holloway, and now Brown continue to buzz. Holloway, despite playing on the third line is tied for the team lead in 5 on 5 shots through the first three games with 6 shots on net. At some point the kid is going to start getting some goals.
Janmark has played 24 minutes at 5 on 5 and Derek Ryan has played 22 minutes. Neither player has registered a shot on net yet. Adam Erne has only played 15 minutes in 2 games and does have 2 shots. I wasn't wild about the Erne signing but the forward is at least trying to make the most of his ice time.