Until the third period, Tuesday night’s game didn’t feel like an 8-4 blowout. The Oilers had a two-goal lead twice but went into the second intermission tied. Give credit to Detroit, they’re a very fast team to play against. This is why it was so careless of Edmonton to fall asleep in the second period and give up so many odd-man rushes. I also miss when their penalty kill was good, being ranked 4th in the league before their game against Anaheim. Now, their PK has allowed five powerplay goals on the last seven chances. That drops their overall PK ranking down to 13th league-wide. That’s still pretty decent, but to see that big of a drop-off in these last few games has been extraordinary. Do you know what else is extraordinary? Connor McDavid recorded six assists at 5v5, with his team not getting a single powerplay. He’s the first player to do that since Don Grosso with the Red Wings against the Rangers on February 3rd, 1944. McDavid is also the fourth fastest player to reach 600 career assists, specifically 603. He did it in his 616th career game. If he hadn’t scored a single NHL goal, he’d still be 2nd in points from the 2015 NHL Draft.
Cody Ceci finally scored his first goal of the season, and his first since October 15th of 2022/2023. The math for that is 486 days and 127 games. It was his 200th career point. After Leon Draisaitl scored the opening goal, Ville Husso had to leave the game with an injury that must’ve plagued him at some point in the first period before Draisaitl’s goal. Husso played just 8:48 minutes of the first period, and Alex Lyon took his place for the rest of the game. It’s an unfortunate break for Husso, who was just coming back from a previous injury, and actually made some pretty big saves before the 1-0 goal. One of those saves must’ve forced him to stretch too hard. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Edmonton starts another three-game road trip right after just coming back from one. Tonight is
against a Wild Card team, Saturday night is against the second-best team in the West, and Monday night is against a team that has been slipping way out of playoff contention. They’d like to earn at least 4 or 5 points out of 6 before starting a six-game home stand. The keys to the game are…
No Periods Off: Yeah, that whole “play 60 minutes” thing became an issue again. Who knows what Kris Knoblauch said during the second intermission to make his team come out and score 5 goals in the third period. But whatever it was, make that travel with them to every remaining game. Limit the defensive lapses, and don’t give your opponents an opportunity to come back.
St. Thomas: The Lone St. Louis Blues 2024 All-Star Robert Thomas has 57 points through 52 games in his 6th NHL season. Previously putting up 60+ and 70+ point campaigns, he has been turning into an excellent #1 centerman.
The Only Important Stat: I know I just pointed out how bad Edmonton’s second period was on Tuesday. But St. Louis is the only team in a Playoff spot with a negative goal differential at this moment. If one thing isn’t working, make something else work, exactly as the Oilers did. They don’t ask how you win, they ask how many you win.
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