OILERS 6, CANUCKS 0
Rattie scores 3 in bid to stick around
Too bad pre-season doesn’t matter.
The Edmonton Oilers continue to roll through the exhibition schedule, improving to 4-1 Tuesday with a 6-0 trouncing of the visiting Vancouver Canucks.
More important than the score and the win, which don’t mean a thing until opening night on Oct. 6, are the performances they received from some of the players they are counting heavily on this year.
A team that came into training camp with major question marks on right wing got five goals from right wingers Ty Rattie and Jesse Puljujarvi.
And Cam Talbot further eased any concerns about his ability to rebound from last season with a 35-save shutout effort in goal.
GAME NOTES
■ Fresh off his five-point night last
Thursday against Winnipeg, Rattie continued to drive home the message that he can be the first-line right winger the Oilers have been looking for.
He scored three more goals Tuesday, giving him seven goals and three assists in three games and looks right at home with the best player in the world.
■ Puljujarvi had a breakaway in
the first period and used his puck control and wheels to go end to end and hit the post in the second and then scored two goals in the third. He has definitely taken a big step forward this season.
He is still a project who needs to work on his game before he can play top six minutes against top six forwards and top pairing defencemen regularly, but he is starting to show flashes of being the real deal.
■ Another strong showing from
Talbot in goal. He faced 13 shots in the first period and a dozen more in the second, but posted a clean sheet through 40 minutes. Nobody wants to read too much into preseason, but he looks a lot like the 2016-17 version.
■ When the players who skated
with Connor McDavid late in the summer said he looked even faster than he did last year, it was hard to believe them. How could that even be possible? But they were right. The Oilers captain looks like he’s discovered another gear. He had a “quiet” three-point night, giving him seven points in two games.
■ For all of the talk about Rattie and McDavid, Ryan NugentHopkins has blended in brilliantly on the left wing. For a guy who’s played fewer than 20 NHL games at the position, he’s adapting seamlessly.
BIG PROMOTION
Kailer Yamamoto’s strong showing in camp earned him a promotion to the second line with Milan Lucic and Leon Draisaitl. He is basically forcing his way on to the team, much like he did for that nine-game audition last season.
“He’s been one of our better players through training camp,” said coach Todd McLellan. “Not just because he has four goals. He’s done a lot of things well. You look at a player like that coming from junior and you tend to think he has some deficiencies or weaknesses defensively or a lot of cheat in his game. He hasn’t shown those deficiencies, he’s been good all over the rink.”