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Game 22: Oilers @ Kraken - Help Is Almost Back

December 3, 2021, 3:08 PM ET [14 Comments]
Sean Maloughney
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
I stated right after Darnell Nurse went down with an injury that the Oilers were going to have to need to bunker down and still find a way to stay in and win hockey games. Looking at the schedule I thought the Oilers had a good chance at going 3-2 over their next 5 games; instead the team went 4-1.

Not that all those wins were super pretty, especially against the Penguins. Watching the first two periods I was hit by a flashback/nightmare of watching the early 2010's Oilers teams. Occasional you would get to watch the team do something exciting in the opponents end but large sections of the game were spent bunkered down in the Oilers zone while I just begged for them to find a way to get the puck out. The game should have easily been 6-2 for Pittsburgh after the first two periods if not for some stellar play by Mikko Koskinen.

In the third period, Tippett mixed things up and sent Kassian thankfully back to the third line where he belongs. Aside from the one game Kassian had a couple of points he has done absolutely nothing with McDavid and I will give Tippett some credit for recognizing this now as opposed to 5 games from now. Yamamoto got bumped up with McDavid and Hyman while JP played with Draisaitl and RNH. Both lines were looking good and it was Yamamoto on his second shift with McDavid who notched another goal.

The only player who really came out swinging for the Oilers aside from Koskinen was Zach Hyman who continues to exceed expectations. Hyman scored his 10th and 11th goal of the season and had a hat-trick goal pulled back on an offside and then couldn't get open for McDavid to give him the empty net goal. Even if McDavid or Draisaitl are having a less than ideal game, Hyman is still able to generate his own offense and can be that spark this team needs when their top guys are getting double coverage. Thanks again Toronto!

While Pittsburgh was a far more difficult team than Seattle, I do worry about the Oilers going into this game. The Kraken are giving up far fewer chances since these two teams faced off at the beginning of November and with Nurse and Keith still out this young defense could be susceptible to the hard hitting style that the Kraken can utilize. The Oilers need to be far smarter with the puck tonight than they were against the Pens.

The good news for Edmonton is that Seattle is dealing with a bunch of injuries too and the Oilers are far deeper and can handle those injuries better than the Kraken. Schwartz, Driedger, Eberle, Jarnkrok, and Giordano all out MIA tonight.

One quick note. I did talk to Sean Maloughney, the Seattle Kraken blogger and we simply did not have enough time to get together and shoot a pre or post game video but we do have a bit of a wager in place. Whoever's team wins this game gets to write up the post-game blog so stay tuned for that!
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