The Oilers are a worrisome 0-3 early in the season. The problem is that there’s been no scoring of note. Dallas started it for McDavid and that line created some things much more than the others, but it just isn’t enough.
The Power Play has been a problem thus far. They have technically scored on the PP this season but it was the own goal against St Louis in game one. Since then it’s been two games and 6 Power Plays without putting one past the goalie.
When I watch the Power Play my concern is that it hasn’t been good at getting McDavid involved. I understand that he’s a rookie and the Oilers probably shouldn’t be building their special teams around him just yet, but if he’s there he has to be contributing. What I was seeing, and eyes can lie sometimes, was that McDavid was positioned higher up on the left wall of the PP. When the Oilers had control of the puck it was down low or on the right side.
What that means is for long segments of the Power Play Connor McDavid hasn’t been touching the puck. If he isn’t going to be more involved with the first unit then I’m not sure why they wouldn’t make him the feature of the 2nd unit. That’s been my rough analysis of the PP 3 games into the season. It isn’t a finished product. It’s a new system and new directions from a new coaching staff. I want to see how things start to unfold. It could explode for a few goals at any time.
McLellan is putting Hendricks out with Taylor Hall and RNH to start the game. This is a pretty big message to players like Teddy Purcell. I didn’t have a problem with what Hendricks was doing on that line the other day. He knows his role is to get into the corner and keep the puck deep in the offensive zone.
Of course Hendricks has never scored more than 25 points and never scored 10 goals in a season. Long term I question how much help Hendricks can provide that line, but in the short term it could work. The Blues are a physical team and they will pressure the Hall line hard. Hendricks can push back a little and isn’t afraid to put his glove in someone’s face.
LINEUPS
Tonight Hendricks gets a chance to play RW on the top line. It’s a pretty big jump from LW on the 4th line all the way to the top. Slepyshev finds himself dropping down the lineup. Reinhart rotates back in with Gryba.
Hall RNH Hendricks Pouliot McDavid Yak Korpikoski Lander Purcell Gazdic Letestu Slepyshev
Klefbom Schultz Sekera Fayne Reinhart Gryba
Talbot
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Welcome Home. This is the Home opener for the Edmonton Oilers. That means the first official introduction for Connor McDavid. He’s played at Rexall on several occasions already, but never in an official NHL game. Reinhart, who is also making his debut, has played a lot of games in this building over his Jr career, but this is a different animal. There are many others who will be making their first impressions on the home crowd, but the story is always going to be Connor, isn’t it?
2) Sigh Of Relief. Connor McDavid scored his first NHL goal against the Stars and the first one is always going to be the hardest. With that pressure taken off of him he should be able to breathe a sigh of relief and focus just on playing the game. At home McLellan will get a chance to take care of his matchups much better. Especially early in his career we might expect McDavid to be more productive at Home compared to on the Road.
3) Stop Wasting. Thus far the Oilers have wasted stellar goaltending from both Talbot and Nilsson. I recognize some people aren’t happy with a couple of the goals Nilsson allowed but he made 48 stops against the Stars. Edmonton knows better than anyone that you wont always be given a chance to win from your netminder. The team cant completely blow it when their goalies are standing on their heads. Edmonton had opportunities to get points in all of these games but it comes down to scoring some goals.
Puck drops tonight at 7 PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet Oilers. Game On!
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