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G64: Oilers @ Golden Knights - Finishing A Road Trip Strong |
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Last night the Oilers sleep walked their way to a 4-3 OT loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Edmonton by their own making, had to claw their way back from a 2-0 deficit they dug into in the first period. I can understand trepidation on the top line as Ennis, Athanasiou, and McDavid all had to adapt to playing with one another for the first time but the whole team played like they were brand new.
No one played well in period #1 and some wondered if Tippett would try and mix up his lines in the second. Kudos to him for sticking with it and giving his guys time to connect.
Ennis scored a great tap in goal off of a smart tic-tac-toe play by McDavid and Athanasiou to put the Oilers on the board. Late in the game after Anaheim had turned it back into a 3-2 game, there was another strong shift by the new top line.
Bear passed the puck up to Athanasiou who made a quick pass to McDavid in traffic who in turn got it to Ennis who skated the puck in. Ennis did a great job driving the puck towards the net and getting a shot off as Athanasiou was able to tap the puck in from behind Gibson to tie the game.
Ennis and Athanasiou both registered a goal and an assist in their first game as an Oiler with Connor McDavid having another 3 point night.
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REFFING
I challenge anyone to find a blog where I have come down hard on the reffing and claimed bias against the Oilers. Today the game moves so fast that calls are going to get missed for both sides and that is fine. That being said this league still has a massive issue with trying to dumb the league down to the lowest common denominator. This isn't a McDavid thing; it's something that negatively effects every elite player in this league.
Connor McDavid is the fastest player in the world and that's not just due to his top end speed, but how he is able to keep that speed even under pressure from the opposition. On numerous plays, the only way a defender is able to try and slow down Connor is to slash at his hands, hook him, or interfere with him.... all things that by the rules are penalties.
Yet for all of those things, McDavid has only drawn a mere 23 penalties this season. Oh and in case you were wondering, Brad Marchand has drawn the most penalties in the league with 43.
Look around the league. Stamkos and Tavares have drawn only 15 penalties, Aho has drawn 13, Matthews has drawn 9, and Sidney Crosby has drawn a mere 7. Yet somehow guys like Miles Wood and Brenden Lemiuex have drawn more than any of them.
I'm bringing this up because of the OT penalty against McDavid last night. Here is the play in question:
Did McDavid trip him, sure. I'd argue it's a bit of a weak call, but by definition, yes that is a trip.
The issue is when things like this happen five or six times in a game with no call.
From how suspensions are called, to how the league seems to want to undercut it's best players, the entire system needs a massive overhaul.
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LINEUPS
OILERS
Athanasiou-McDavid-Ennis
RNH-Draisaitl-Archibald
Granlund-Sheahan-Chiasson
Khaira-Haas-Russell
Nurse-Bear
Jones-Larsson
Lagesson-Green
Koskinen
- Assuming we will see the same combinations with the exception of Mikko Koskinen in net. Matt Benning may slot back into the lineup somewhere as well.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Marchessault-Stastny-Smith
Pacioretty-Karlsson-Stone
Cousins-Stephenson-Roy
Carrier-Nosek-Reaves
McNabb-Schmidt
Martinez-Theodore
Holden-Whitecloud
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3 KEYS TO VICTORY
1.) What You Were Waiting For - The first period against Anaheim looked like the whole Oilers team was already looking ahead to their game against the Golden Knights. If that was the case, we should see Edmonton flying out of the gates tonight. A win tonight in regulation will tie Edmonton for first in the Pacific alongside the Golden Knights.
2.) Team Defense - Over the last couple games, specifically against the Wild and Ducks the Oilers have gotten away from the team defense that won them so many other games this month. Two things are clear; first that this team desperately misses their top defenseman in Oscar Klefbom and second that Darnell Nurse is woefully unprepared to handle those minutes in his absence. Ethan Bear continued to make strong plays in his own end but Nurse somehow always looks lost in his own end. He can't make those kinds of plays against a Vegas team with a number of deadly lines.
3.) We Have Those Now Too!- Even with Yamamoto out, Edmonton now has some solid scoring depth throughout their lineup; more than they have in a long time. Knock on wood but Edmonton doesn't have to worry about a power-line shutting down all the offense of McDavid because Draisaitl and RNH can go over the boards right after. Depth. It's a wonderful thing.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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