Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Connor McDavid skating for the Edmonton Oilers

3 games, huh? Sigh.

If you didn’t hear the news already, both Connor McDavid and Tyler Myers were both given 3 game suspensions for their end tilts on Saturday night’s Oilers vs. Canucks game. As time was winding down in the final seconds of the third period, Conor Garland held McDavid onto the ice for about a good 10 seconds. Our Connor wasn’t all too happy that the referees were letting it go, so he cross-checked their Conor’s face in frustration. At the same time, Myers cross-checked Evan Bouchard’s face, hence the suspension he also got. Should the Oilers have gotten a powerplay? Yes. Would they’ve come up with a miracle tying goal with less than 5 seconds left in regulation? We’ll never know.

No, the face of the Edmonton franchise should never goon it up. I’m not defending the way he attacked Conor Garland, and this may’ve also been a late makeup response for McDavid’s elbow to the face of Minnesota’s Marcus Johansson that wasn’t called for anything. What infuriates Oilers fans is McDavid has a history of getting held, hooked, slashed and tripped without the zebra shirt arm going up. I’m not usually one to talk about officiating in these articles because every fan is a tad biased in these instances when their own team is involved. There was a moment in last season’s Vancouver series where he dove and the Canucks got a minor penalty. Diving doesn’t look good on anybody, but have more consistency with calls and players won’t have to think at all about embellishment just to get a referee’s attention. Bouchard was getting strangled in one game of last year’s Cup Final, no call. Protect your stars, protect any player, or else these instances are going to be worse.

In lighter news, Derek Ryan was placed on waivers after the Vancouver game and cleared. Making room for John Klingberg when he’s in the lineup and noticing that Ryan just doesn’t have a lot left in the tank anymore. His story is inspiring, playing just over 600 games after being undrafted and not making his NHL debut until he was 28. He turned into a great defensive bottom 6 forward, and has been a good veteran during his time in Edmonton. But Father Time catches up to every athlete eventually. He’ll be in Bakersfield for now, but here’s hoping we’ll see him at least once more in the Playoffs.

I thought it’d be nice to end that portion of the article with no more ranting. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Notes

Home Sweet Home: The Oilers are starting a 6 game homestand tonight, after being on the road for 9 of their last 12 games. Fatigue was finally setting in for them in the last couple of outings. Starting tonight, they can attempt to finish the month of January strong, no travel and only one time zone to move under.

Score first: In 5 of Edmonton’s last 6 games, they’ve been in positions where they had to climb their out of multi-goal deficits, succeeding in all but 2 of them. After the incredible comeback win from 3-0 down in Colorado, all I could do was laugh when they went down 3-0 again in Vancouver. I would’ve laughed harder if they pulled off that sort of comeback again. But sometimes, it’s easier to handle mentally if you take the first lead. Put the opposition under pressure for a change.

The Great 8: Alex Ovechkin started the season with 15 goals in 18 games before his injury. He’s 39 years old and was on the best scoring pace of his career. Since coming back to Washington’s lineup on December 28th, he has 6 goals in 12 games. On the scoresheet or against the boards, he’s still aging like fine wine.