In a game that probably had Devon Dubnyk happy to be on the bench, the Coyotes destroyed the Oilers 7-4.
Unfortunately for my optimism about the Oilers, they appeared to be a team consisting of two players: Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov. Their goalie, the soon-to-be former NHL player Ben Scivens, did not look very good at all.
In what I can only half-believe, due to the Calgary/Chicago game going late and me not seeing it, the Oilers supposedly dominated the first eight minutes of the game. Taylor Hall scored pretty much right away and the Oilers out-shot the Coytoes 10-4.
But then Mikkel Boedker got a burst of speed and went backhand/crossbar/net. Damn was it a nice goal. After that, the fragile Oilers seemed to quit. When the goalie leaves the net and five guys are watching Joe Vitale and he feeds a wide open Kyle Chipchura for a tap in....well, you know you're in trouble.
I am pretty sure you could put the game in slow motion and watch Dallas Easkins rapidly ageing behind the bench.
On the plus side, Nail Yakupov should one day be able to score 50 goals on the power play alone, as his one timer is insane, and the fact that he tries to hit everything that moves is also very great to watch. Then there is Taylor Hall, who almost personally engineered a comeback and got the game to 4-3.
The Oilers might have done it too, if not for an odd move by Eakins to throw out the fourth line for a shift against Doan-Vermette-Boedker which resulted in the goal that ended it. Let's not entirely blame the coach here though because it was a backhander so weak that Ben Scriven`s Mom could have saved it. To call it a bad goal would be an understatement.
Overall, the Oilers only allowed 29 shots, it`s really too bad their goalie let in 6 of them. Although, while the Oilers managed only 2 less shots, the game wasn`t as close as that makes it seem. Remember, the Oilers started out with 10 of those shots in the first 8 minutes and only had 17 the rest of the game. Still, if they got some timely goaltending, they would have had a chance, because Scrivens was not the only brutal goalie playing last night.
Yes, hidden in the offensive explosion is the fact the team so defensive it puts David Moss on the second line allowed 4 goals on 27 shots. The Coyotes were just as sloppy with the puck and defensively as the Oilers were and they got almost as bad of goaltending.
Smith appeared to be fighting the puck all night and it`s just lucky the Oilers did not get more scoring chances, because they might have won 8-7 if they did.
Smith and the Coyotes defense had better find their game soon because this is not a team that is going to score 7 goals regularly. But, they did, and full credit to Boedker because he was amazing. He became the first Coyote to score in 3 straight games to start the season since they were the Jets, and he scored his first career hat-trick and finished the night with 4 points.
It was sloppy, but it was a win. You honestly have to feel for the Oilers right now, but hopefully they can get themselves a goalie and become a little more competitive.
Thanks for reading.