Edmonton Oilers Post-Game Thoughts

First Period Summary

It was Hockey Fights Cancer night at Scotiabank Arena, both teams started with a ceremonial puck drop for a young Senators fan and cancer patient. Evan Bouchard opened the scoring with a Connor McDavid impression. He skated on a rush from his own zone and then shot the puck top shelf on Linus Ullmark. Josh Brown and Zach MacEwan dropped the gloves shortly after for a spirited fight. With over 4 minutes left in the period, Drake Batherson fed Tim Stuetzle from behind the Oilers net and that goal would tie the game for the Senators. But hang on, McDavid would respond not even a minute later and his team regained the lead. He banked the loose puck off a rebound, Vasily Podkolzin would get credit for his second assist in the period. McDavid would his second goal during a 5v3 powerplay. The first of Ottawa’s penalties was given to Josh Norris for cross-checking Leon Draisaitl. Then Claude Giroux would take a penalty himself just a second after the faceoff was taken. The officials deemed that he touched the puck with his glove after it was dropped. I think it was too close to call that a penalty, but they thought different. Edmonton would head to the dressing with a 3-1 lead.

Second Period Summary

The Oilers started the second period with the last bit of their powerplay from the first period and didn’t score on it. The Senators would go to the man advantage for the first time, as Adam Henrique went to the penalty box for holding. Edmonton killed it off, McDavid and Draisaitl failed to convert a 2v1 chance, but Draisaitl got the puck back in alone and scored to make it 4-1. The second chance came off a play by Henrique in the neutral zone to help the Oilers keep possession of the puck. Corey Perry mishandled a pass and David Perron took shot that was stopped by Stuart Skinner. There was also a quick glove save by Skinner on Stuetzle a moment after the commercial break ended. Michael Amadio almost cut the deficit on a breakaway after making a move to get away from Bouchard. He beat Skinner, but not the post. Bouchard almost got his second of the game off a rush when getting a pass from McDavid, but Ullmark made the save. McDavid almost completed the hat-trick after getting a fortunate bounce in front of the net. With less than 10 seconds left to play, Stuetzle took a penalty for cross-checking Podkolzin. The second period ends with Edmonton up 4-1.

Third Period Summary

Zach Hyman did not start the third period on the ice or even on the bench. It may’ve been the result of a collision with Nick Jensen, who himself was the victim of a Podkolzin hit in the second period. Perry took his spot on the powerplay that they started the period with. Batherson had a great chance to score shortly after Ottawa killed off their penalty, but Skinner made the save. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took an offensive zone penalty after tripping Tyler Kleven. The Oilers killed off the penalty and Nugent-Hopkins scored to make it 5-1 after exiting the penalty box and deflecting a half-shot/half-pass from Derek Ryan. Norris tipped a shot from Jensen and the puck went in the net. The officials reviewed the goal to see if it was knocked down with a high stick. It was deemed a good goal, making the score 5-2; and that’s the score this game would end with.

Final Take

Evan Bouchard and Stuart Skinner had a much-needed bounce-back game after all the heat they’ve been taking in their last couple of games played. The Edmonton Oilers still looked like a three-man when you look at the scoresheet after the game. But Adam Henrique, Vasily Podkolzin, Derek Ryan, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got their names on the scoresheet as well. For a team struggling to get secondary scoring, it was nice to see. We just hope now that Zach Hyman won’t be out long or at all after not playing the third period. Edmonton’s next game is on Thursday night. They return home to play the Minnesota Wild.