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Oilers Overcome Early Nerves on Route to 5-3 Victory |
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Just like they drew up...
It was an ugly start as the Oilers looked woefully unprepared to handle the Canucks speed and pressure early on. Within the first three minutes of the game, the Oilers found themselves down 2-0. First, it was not the start Dylan Holloway wanted as he gave up a blatant giveaway in his own end which ended up in the back of Edmonton's net. The second occurred as Draisaitl was unable to handle the puck in Vancouver's end which led to a 3 on 1 and a J.T. Miller goal. Edmonton looked disorganized and lost for the entire third period.
Credit where credit is due; the Canucks are going to be a tough team to beat this season. While the Oilers are a fast team, the Canucks looked on a completely different level for large sections of the game. Petterssen, Kuzmenko, Miller, Hoglander, Hughes... the list goes on. They are an aggressive team that doesn't let up.
If not for Jack Campbell, the Oilers could have been down much much more. It wasn't the start fans were hoping to see from Campbell but it is hard to fault the Oilers new netminder for much. The first two goals against were a result of grade A giveaways from Edmonton and the PP goal was scored as the Oilers in front were in complete disarray. After this the team started to settle down and provide some support for Campbell and from here on he did excellent. The team in front of him still gave up too many odd-man rushes but Campbell stood his ground, including taking down Aman to the roar of the crowd.
Campbell kept the team in the game when they were down, and gave them a chance to regroup and start putting the pressure on themselves, Overall it was a good first showing by Soup.
As the second period continued, the Oilers finally were able to feel themselves into the game, starting with a great powerplay goal by Draisaitl (though the team got lucky as the refs missed a high-stick by Kane). Shortly after that, the Oilers struck again on the man advantage with what might be the prettiest goal I've ever seen on the powerplay with a lightning fast tic-tac-toe leading to McDavid scoring his first of the season.
Let's talk about the powerplays for a moment. The whole game felt very much like a "first game of the season." The players looked rusty, both benches got called on a too many men call (and could have gotten called on more), and the refs were a little too whistle heavy at times and whistle light at other times. Both teams got their fair share of calls and both teams were given soft calls and missed calls. At the end of the day, the Oilers won because the Canucks were not able to capitalize on more than one of their eight powerplays. It was good work by the Oilers PK and netminder, but the team needs to be far more disciplined moving forward.
Speaking of undisciplined, Darnell Nurse took a dumb penalty at the end of the first that led to the Canucks making the game 3-0. Nurse is a player who toes the line between useful physicality and physicality that is detrimental to his own team and that was clearly in the latter category. The Oilers #1 D man made up for it later by joining the rush shorthanded for a great snipe which tied the game.
On the defensive side of things, the Nurse-Ceci pairing was good for the Oilers, going 10-8 in scoring chances at 5 on 5 and 1-1 in goals for and against at 5 on 5. Bouchard and Murray had some good chemistry and while they went 0-1 at 5 on 5, they did outchance the Canucks 8-5 as well. Bouchard looked like he did in the post-season, making smart crisp passes out of the defensive end. Murray also had a couple good looks, including a between the legs shot that almost resulted in a goal.
I didn't hate that pairing together but something needs to change as the Kulak and Barrie pairing simply did not work. I liked Kulak's game but Barrie cannot be counted on to play top four minutes. Barrie and Kulak went 1-11 in scoring chances at 5 on 5... that is not good.
McDavid and Draisaitl did their thing and took over the game and pulled the rest of the team along. It's a handy backup to have but cannot be what the team relies on every game. As the roster settles down and Kailer Yamamoto and Foegele are in the lineup and the team doesn't have to run a man short that should be less of a concern.
I liked what Puljujarvi did all game. While he didn't end up on the scoreboard, I thought he was the Oilers best forward in the first period and got robbed by Demko early on. He hit players, caused turnovers and got into the right positions. It was a good start.
Similar notes for Evander Kane. There were a couple moments that Kane could have had a great scoring chances but he was a step too slow behind McDavid and was robbed by Demko too. Nice little gift from Kane to McDavid to give the captain his third goal of the night.
Overall it is a game where Edmonton will be happy to take the win while recognizing that they did not play nearly well enough to win like that on a consistent basis. The team will regroup, learn their lessons, and be ready to take on the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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