Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Darnell Nurse has had a better season than he did last year but he played his worst game of the season. He was on the ice for all the goals against, but the one in Overtime was the most egregious. It was a mistake for Kris Knoblauch in the first place to play two defensemen in the extra period instead of the usual 2F/1D playbook. But Nurse just casually, politely, nonchalantly gave the puck over to the Jets, in the offensive zone no less, and Winnipeg was able to set themselves up to score the winning goal, which Darnell then screened a cold and unprepared Calvin Pickard on. Pickard played the last five or so minutes of regulation because Stuart Skinner needed to get off the ice for a concussion protocol after taking a collision between Troy Stecher and Gabriel Vilardi. Seeing Pickard get ready to take the net after the commercial break was at the worst possible time, as Zach Hyman had just tied the game. Stu may’ve regressed this season, and he didn’t play great in that game either; rebound control and lateral movement are still glaring issues. He, unfortunately, had as poor a game as Connor Hellebuyck. But thankfully Knoblauch said it wasn’t serious and he should be dressed tonight, even as the backup. I’d play Pickard against Seattle anyway, but we may or may not have been screwed if he had to take over the #1 job with an inexperienced backup from here on out.

You know who else isn’t feeling 100%? That’s right, the captain. Connor McDavid felt a slash on the hand by Josh Morrisey during the second period and sat out the third period as a result. Morrisey isn’t by any means a dirty player; it’s just competitive hockey, but it is also never nice to see. We were already without Leon Draisaitl to start the evening. Kris Knoblauch spoke to the media during practice and said both McDavid and Draisaitl should be out for at least a week. That sounds like a long time in hockey talk, but the team has a three day break in between games after tonight. So it doesn’t really feel like we’d miss them for too long, unless we’re told that their bruises worsened. I’d rather they sat a few nights and were 100% for the Playoffs. Yes, players get banged up in the postseason all the time. But better during than before. If you can salvage an OT point against the second-best team in the league without your two best players, one of them missing the final 20, and without your #1 goalie for the last five minutes, then it’d be inexcusable to lose any way against a team that sits 12 points out of a Playoff spot. But the next few nights are now a judge of character for the rest of the roster. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Notes:

Line ‘Em Up: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Vasily Podkolzin, and Viktor Arvidsson had productive chemistry as a line against the Rangers and Hockey Club. I think I remember seeing Jeff Skinner, Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman also have decent production as a line earlier in the season. Expect lines like those again for the next few games. Skinner scored two goals as McDavid’s winger on Thursday night, an experiment that shouldn’t have taken this long to do. All the secondary forwards on the Oilers will need to work together more than ever now. Seven days without 97 and 29 will bring back Steve Tambellini/Dallas Eakins Top 6 days in Edmonton.

Ebs And Flow: Seattle captain and former Oiler of 7 seasons Jordan Eberle was out with an injury between mid November and early February. Since coming back to the Kraken lineup on February 22nd, he has 10 points in 13 games. In 14 career games against the team that drafted him, he has 7 points.

The Price Is Wright: He was the consensus 1st overall pick in 2022 but slid down to 4th on his draft day. Shane Wright didn’t blossom into an NHL forward the two seasons afterward, but the 3rd time in the NHL has been the charm. In 67 games this season, he has 40 points. The Daily Faceoff website currently lists him as Seattle’s 4th line center, but I haven’t watched enough Kraken games to know if that’s really been his place in their lineup on a game-by-game basis. I doubt so, but If so, he’s a damn good 4th line center.