The Oilers snapped their 5 game losing streak with a pretty solid performance against the Stars. It was about time some stuff started to break in the right direction for Edmonton.
Connor McDavid picked up the first hat-trick of his career playing on a line with Puljujarvi and Lucic. I expect we’ll see that combination stay together tonight. When the Oilers committed to keeping young Puljujarvi (the NHL’s youngest player) many people wondered how long it would be before he would get his shot to play with McDavid. If Eberle had been knocking it out of the park that wouldn’t have ever come up, but with Eberle failing to elevate his game beyond his career average, the door was opened for the Finn.
Offensively, one of the knocks on Puljujarvi this season was that he wasn’t able to create any space for himself. He plays a good positional game, but his speed wasn’t being used very well at all. On a line with McDavid the space will be there because everyone has to focus on 97. Lanes open up because it takes 2 defenders to stop McDavid.
The other thing we haven’t seen much from Puljujarvi is the use of his shot. He has a wicked one-timer and even though he’s 6th on the team in shots per 60 minutes, he hasn’t been getting the number of chances you want a player of his talent level to be getting. That’s going to change playing with McDavid on a regular basis. The puck gets to McDavid’s wingers in prime scoring areas.
I’m not sure where I stand on Lucic with McDavid. He produced at an OK clip with him earlier, but it wasn’t anything more than his career average. Unfortunately Lucic has gone 6 games without registering a point and the team needs him going. Patrick Maroon has been far and away the most productive left winger to play McDavid’s port side, but Lucic does a lot of little things well. The puck is generally moving in the right direction with Milan on the ice, he battles in the corners well, and his hands aren’t awful. That’s valuable.
Overall, that line should be able to keep the pressure up against good teams and if the rookie gets exposed then we know Eberle will be right back up there in no time. The Blackhawks are the best team in the West. They’ve lost only 6 games all year and 2 of them were in OT. Edmonton won their last game, but this is a whole different level of competition. If they want to win these games then McDavid will have to lead the charge. If they want to consistently win these games then his line cant be the only one pulling the weight.
It's a lot of pressure for a line featuring an 18 year old rookie and a 19 year old sophomore.
LINEUP
The team sat Pouliot and Letestu against the Stars and snapped out of their slide. I thought Pouliot would draw back in, but based on line rushes that wont happen.
Lucic McDavid Puljujarvi Maroon RNH Eberle Kassian Draisaitl Slepyshev Hendricks Caggiula Pitlick
Klefbom Larsson Sekera Russell Nurse Benning
Talbot Gustavsson
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Artems. Everybody knows that Patrick Kane cannot be left unchecked in a game or he’s going to make you pay, but the Blackhawks are also coming at teams with Artem and Artemi (Anisimov and Panarin) who are both sitting at 18 points on the season. Artem Anisimov shot out of the gate and is still sporting a 30.8 shooting percentage. He only has 1 point in his last 5 games, so he’s really starting to fall back to earth a bit. His career high is half of the pace he’s on. Artemi Panarin (last year’s best rookie with more than 6 years of professional experience) is a consistent scoring threat. The 25 year old man with the physique of a small child should not be taken lightly. He’s a real NHL scorer. Edmonton will need to pay close attention.
2) Closed Door. The Chicago Blackhawks have the highest 5v5 save percentage in the NHL with 95.2%. It has been incredibly difficult to score against this team at evens. Crawford’s .928 save percentage is 8th in the NHL for goaltenders with 10 or more games played. At 5v5 Crawford and Darling rank 5th and 13th in save percentage out of the 47 goaltenders who have played at least 200 minutes. What I’m getting at is it will be difficult to score in them without getting on the PP. Bad news for the Oilers, their PP isn’t very good. Edmonton has been a very good 5v5 scorer, but the Hawks are a big test.
3) No Kill. Mentioned briefly above, the best bet for the Oilers to get on the scoreboard is on the Power Play. The Blackhawks are 30th in the NHL with a PK efficiency of just 69.5%. They are the only team below 74% in the NHL. They allow the 5th most shots against per 60 minutes while 4v5 shorthanded (56.3 SA/60), 4th most unblock shot attempts per 60 (79.0 FA/60), and 5th most total shot attempts per 60 (108.3 CA/60). Kruger and Campbell look like the best Hawks at limiting shot attempts. Forsling, Kempny, and Hossa are bleeding attempts like crazy. Edmonton’s worst regular is on the ice for 116 shot attempts against per 60 minutes. Chicago’s worst is on for 153 shot attempts against per 60 minutes. What is going on there?
Puck drops at 7PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet 1. Game On!
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