Thankfully the Oilers snapped a three game losing streak with a shootout victory last night. The Oilers were outshot by a wide margin against the Islanders, but they were essentially even in 5v5 shot attempts and actually ahead in all-situation attempts.
Some spotty defending by Benning and Larsson combined for some very scary moments, but the anemic power play finally started to click a bit and the team was able to claw back into the game. What I’ve seen from Matt Benning is that on the PP he looks extremely comfortable. In his own zone…well, not so much. He has a little bit of Justin Schultz in him while he’s playing in the defensive zone. I think more time in the AHL will do wonders for him, but the team needs to get healthy first.
The Oilers lost Puljujarvi and Kassian to injury last night. Puljujarvi’s incident looked frightening. Kassian’s happened without any indication as far as I can tell. When Islander defender Seidenberg hit Puljujarvi knee-on-knee, the rookie Finn was down in agony. He got up and limped his way to the bench and tested it out once afterwards but was pulled from the game. What made it even more worrisome was that the knee in question was the same one that cost him month last season and he was rehabbing all summer.
Happily, McLellan reported it more as a Charlie-horse than anything structural for Jesse Puljujarvi. It should be a short term thing and with some luck he might even play tonight (though I wouldn’t count on it).
What this does, though, is expose how critically thin the Oilers already were at RW. The depth chart right now is: Eberle Slepyshev Pitlick Milk Crate The only established NHL player on the right side of this game is Eberle. Slepyshev might one day get there. Pitlick is on track, but he’s not there. Milk Crate is quite literally just a box used to carry other smaller boxes of milk.
Right Wing and Right Defense are the two places Edmonton needs to upgrade the most. It’s unlikely that a couple of (seemingly) short term injuries would be a catalyst for immediate action. That said, it really does underscore how necessary it is for the Oilers to find another right shooting winger. Even a player in the Teddy Purcell class of wingers would be a great pickup for this club before the Christmas break.
There will be other injuries. There will be times where these kids really struggle. Even right now as Jordan Eberle is snake-bitten, it’s hard to justify putting someone with less than 30 NHL games of experience in the top spot even for just 1 game. A name I’ve heard a few times is someone like Jarome Iginla. If that name keeps getting mentioned into December I’ll really have to look into it, but he has a massive cap hit and has just 2 points in 10 games this season. Still, a veteran player.
Edmonton no longer has the front of the line access on the waiver wire. The blown chance to grab PA Parentau (who leads New Jersey’s forwards in CF% and has 5 points in 10 games) still stands as a gaffe this season. It will likely cost the Oilers an asset to add depth beyond what they have now. Barring Chiarelli goes full-Reinhart again, spending assets on the RW situation will be well worth it. The Division is still a mess and the Oilers have a huge opportunity ahead of them to take advantage and make a bid to be a top 3 team in the Pacific.
LINEUP
The injuries are piling up. As Bob Stauffer pointed out, it’s possible for 9 players to be injured: Russell, Davidson, Fayne, Puljujarvi, Kassian, Caggiula, Hendricks, Pakarinen, and Ference (not sure if Ference even counts though). Word is that Puljujarvi took more of a Charlie-horse than a knee injury. It’s 50/50 he plays though and the Oilers recalled Taylor Beck.
Maroon McDavid Eberle Pouliot RNH Beck Lucic Draisaitl Slepyshev Lander Letestu Pitlick
Klefbom Larsson Sekera Benning Nurse Gryba
Gustavsson Talbot
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Gris-Gris. So gris-gris is a talisman if sorts that voodoo practitioners would use to ward off evil or bad luck. One might assume this is about injuries, but I’m starting to believe that someone has placed a curse on Jordan Eberle. The good news is that he has an assist in the last two games. The bad news is that someone is still going all Temple-Of-Doom on him and putting pins in an Eberle shaped cloth doll. He’s gone 8 games (and 21 shots) without a goal now. He blew multiple great chances against the Islanders including a glorious one in OT. He is cursed. Has one of McDavid’s principle playing partners ever gone 8 games consecutively without a goal? Should we be impressed by this record? He has to scre eventually, right? RIGHT???
2) The Monster. Jonas Gustavsson has played exactly 10:04 this season standing in relief after Talbot got shelled by Buffalo. Then Larsson collided with him and caused a neck injury that looked pretty ugly at the time. He’s good to go now and the Oilers have been riding Talbot’s hot hand up until now. If this wasn’t a back-to-back scenario then I doubt he’d be playing at all. In 173 games played, Gustavsson has just a .902 save percentage, placing him is that suspect range of NHL netminders. He’s playing his former club, the Red Wings, who gave up 5 against the Jets on Friday. He played 41 games for the Red Wings organization. Edmonton needs its backstop to keep them in games, no matter who is between the pipes.
3) Soy Uno Perdedor. Taylor Beck was recalled by the Oilers this morning. Beck is a former Nashville Predators 3rd round pick who has played 87 NHL games with the team that drafted him and the Islanders. He’s been playing in Bakersfield and just had a whale of a game that pushed him up to 12 points in 8 total games with Edmonton’s farm club. He’s a 6’2…, 200lb right shooting winger. Exactly what the Oilers need right now. He’s still only 25 years old so there might be an NHL player in there, but there’s obviously a reason why he hasn’t broken through yet. The first place to look is his legs. Can the kid skate well enough to play in the NHL? We’ll see for ourselves this afternoon most likely.
Puck drops this afternoon at 3PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet. Game On!
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