I want to give a huge shoutout to Warren Foegele, Adam Henrique, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Cody Ceci, and Darnell. Late in the second period, they couldn’t get off the ice, with the Flames sustaining pressure in the offensive zone. Those five each played a shift longer than three minutes. They gutted out their exhaustion and did not allow a goal against. Although Calgary would end up tying the game in the third period, the Oilers still won it in the end. Imagine, had the Flames scored on Edmonton’s tired legs, how much different the game may have looked at the end. Also, who else gasped when Zach Hyman got hit in the ankle by a puck?
One altercation that grabbed every viewer’s attention was Corey Perry shouting at Evander Kane on the bench. Kane had a needless turnover in the offensive zone that wasted what could’ve been a scoring chance. When the Oilers media asked Perry about it, he said, “Brothers fight.” Kane had a similar moment when he argued with Leon Draisaitl on the bench in Toronto when they were down 5-0. I understand it’s hard for some hockey fans to give him the benefit of the doubt, given his history with separate teams. But I don’t believe it’s the type of locker room drama that some fans are making it out to be. If it were, it’d be enough of a distraction to keep the Oilers from winning games. Friendly reminder, it hasn’t. Hockey is an emotional sport, and in the heat of a bad moment, players are going to get tense. It doesn’t mean teammates have issues with each other. Perry’s response about keeping everyone accountable, no matter who they are, is exactly why you have a veteran like that on a Cup contender. A guy who won a Stanley Cup, a Memorial Cup, and Gold Medals, as well as a Rocket Richard trophy and a Hart trophy, can yell at whoever he wants if that’s what it takes to have a winning message. Kane was asked about it also and shared Perry’s sentiment.
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Edmonton starts a four game homestand tonight, before finishing the regular season with two road games. Where you finish in the standings isn’t always the most important thing, but we’ll see what they do here. The keys to the game are…
Teenage Mutant Ninja Hertl: On Monday night, Tomas Hertl played his first game as a Golden Knight since being acquired by Vegas at the Trade Deadline. He’d previously missed two months of action due to injury. Look at shutting him down, along with a streaking Jack Eichel.
Standings War: Edmonton’s first round match up can be either this team or the Kings again. Vegas is only one point out of third place in the Pacific Division, and got a boost with L.A. losing in regulation last night. But they’ve also lost two in a row, while trying to stay in front of other teams that aren’t mathematically eliminated yet.
Plagued Opponent: The Golden Knights are patiently waiting for star players like Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, and Adin Hill to come back from cap circumv- I mean, injury. This is still a damn good team, but the Oilers need to take advantage of their missing bodies.
