Nothing is coming easy but Hitch has Oilers rolling
As they have in every game they have played under new head coach Ken Hitchcock, the Oilers launched another full-scale attack on Edmonton’s blood pressure Thursday.
After going to overtime in three of their first four games under Hitchcock and falling on a last-minute empty-netter in the other, the Oilers took another one to the brink Thursday in a thrilling 3-2 victory over the L.A. Kings.
After playing one of the worst games you’ll ever see last time out (0-0 after 60 minutes against Dallas), the Oilers and Kings turned in a hard-fought beauty of a contest this time, complete with offence, hitting, bad blood, controversy, replays, near misses and some late heroics.
It came down to Oscar Klefbom’s power-play winner at 17:40, followed by a furious L.A. assault with the goalie out.
The Oilers are now 3-1-1 under Hitchcock.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
Oilers fans must have felt they were living in a parallel universe for a while there: Jesse Puljujarvi scored, the NHL situation room made a ruling in their favour, and somebody actually got called for holding Connor McDavid. It was basically ‘opposite day’ at Rogers Place as Edmonton moved out to a 2-0 lead in the first 9:33.
All was right with the world. For six minutes.
By the end of the first period, the Kings wiped out the deficit in short order on goals from Dustin Brown (13:49) and Jeff Carter (19:29), and suddenly the Oilers went from having this game well in hand to wondering what the heck just happened.
Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen caught a major break when he whiffed on a shot 3:54 into the third period, a weak backhand from a long way out that could have broken Edmonton’s back if the play hadn’t been ruled a centimetre offside. He was otherwise stellar, though, making all the saves he needed to get the Oilers another win and improve his record to 7-2-1.
It’s a perspective among those who don’t like Milan Lucic’s contract and don’t like the work Edmonton’s general manager is doing, but when you combine Peter Chiarelli’s gross overpayment with his two steals this year (Koskinen and Alex Chiasson), it’s not that far out of whack.
A good starting goalie in the NHL runs you about $4.5 million, a top-six winger who scores 20-plus goals falls into the $4.5 million range, and nobody would be complaining if Lucic made $2 million.
Add it up and you’re looking at close to $11 million. Edmonton is paying $9,165,000 for those three players. Granted, it’s not a balance that will last much beyond this season when Chiasson and Koskinen become free agents, but the money adds up for this season, anyway.
With the Oilers committing to a more tenacious defence and the offence having dried up badly (six goals in regulation over the last four games), McDavid’s lock on the Art Ross Trophy doesn’t seem so certain any more. Oh well, he’d rather be on a winning team and make the playoffs than hauling in a bunch of individual awards.