Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

You won’t win every game, but for the Oilers, some wins feel way better than others.

First of all, if you’re a Wild fan reading this, whether you saw Thursday’s game in person or on TV or on the radio, I’m sorry you had to sit through that. No team enjoys getting blown out; this is your perspective of a 7-1 final score. Mine? The Oilers almost never beat Minnesota, the idea of it is one of life’s greatest myths. I remember a road game against the Wild all the way back during the 2007/2008 season, where Edmonton blew a 4-1 lead and lost in overtime. I started getting feelings of PTSD after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made it 4-1. Your team and that game have scarred me and other Oilers fans that much. Any way to describe them playing such a dominant game inside Excel Energy Centre with such solid team defense and offense from up and down the whole lineup is an understatement because it’s just not something I’m used to. There’ll one day be a time I don’t view a road game in the State of Hockey as a scheduled loss, and maybe Thursday night was the start of that.

Unfortunately, a great game for us didn’t come with as great an ending as you’d think. Wild forward Ryan Hartman bumped Evan Bouchard into the goalpost on a chase for the puck with about a minute left in the game. Bouchard left the bench and headed to the locker room, but there was no point in staying in the game anyway. The way Hartman threw his check was probably based on a level of frustration for how bad his team’s loss was. Should he get some sort of call or hearing for that? Perhaps, but I don’t think he’s a dirty player. I recall a time when former Oiler Taylor Hall had the exact same instinct. Even clean players can make dirty plays through strong emotions. Kris Knoblauch revealed that it was nothing major and Bouchard will be a game time decision. Josh Brown has been called up from Bakersfield, just in case. Thankfully, this isn’t something that’ll keep Bouchard out long. It would be a massive blow to Edmonton’s blueline if that were the case.

Speaking of the blueline, congrats to Darnell Nurse on reaching 200 career assists, and I wish Ty Emberson completed the Gordie Howe Hattrick. I also just read a post stating that former Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz, who played 248 games in Edmonton, will be hanging up his skates. All the best to him in his retirement. Travis Dermott was placed on waivers and then claimed by Minnesota. He wasn’t getting consistent ice time in Edmonton, and he may’ve still gotten fewer looks than the recently acquired prospect Alec Regula. So, best of luck to him on his new team. Congrats to Oilers defenseman prospect Beau Akey, making the cut to represent Team Canada at this year’s World Junior Championships. 5 games left before the Christmas break, all at Rogers Place. The Oil could get themselves high up on the nice list with points in the standings if they play in front of their fans the same way they have all month. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Thoughts

Positioning: In the last meeting against the Golden Knights, Leon Draisaitl made a bad pass attempt in his own zone that led to a rush and a game-winning goal that Stuart Skinner shouldn’t have allowed. On Thursday, he took a tap-in shot off Zach Hyman’s stick for one of the goals. Also, on the 5-1 goal, he received a pass on the rush, and after he took the shot, the puck still bounced off his backhand and into the net. Know where you and everyone else will be when making or finishing a play.

The Highground: Vegas is first in the Pacific Division while allowing roughly the same number of goals as Edmonton, simply by just scoring more goals. The standings and first couple of meetings indicate that they’re better, but not overwhelmingly. Don’t look at them as a scary first-place team; you can be only 3 points behind them with a win. If you can convincingly beat the first-place team in the other western division, don’t be afraid to show up and play against this one.

Vengeful Snub: Big shoutout to Calvin Pickard for starting Thursday’s game and outdueling one of this season’s top goalies in Filip Gustavsson, as well as future hall of famer Marc-Andre Fluery, whose still pretty good at his age. An important area of Oilers hockey is to have a backup play well enough to give the #1 goalie a break here and there, the way Pickard did last season. Stuart Skinner is one of a few Oilers players who I’ve stated are playing like they took their Team Canada snubs personally. Adin Hill won the Four Nations audition in the first two meetings between these teams. Skinner will look to win the revenge meeting, as he did against Jordan Binnington.