Oilers win ugly one in OT in Chicago
Strong goaltending by Talbot, quick goal by McDavid in overtime seal the victory
Like they always say, “Winning ugly is better than losing ugly.”
And when winning isn’t in the cards, you might as well settle for tying ugly and seeing what happens in overtime, like they don’t know what’s going to happen when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are out there.
Sure enough, after 60 boring minutes of 1-1 hockey, the overtime heroes struck again, with Draisaitl setting up McDavid on the first shift of the extra period to give Edmonton a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks and a sweep of their two game road trip.
After going on a bit of a goalscoring binge in their previous three games including five against Pittsburgh, four against Washington and five more Saturday against the Nashville Predators, the Oilers found themselves in a defensive struggle with the Blackhawks and felt right at home.
There are thrilling and entertaining 2-1 games, but make no mistake, this wasn’t one of them. It was simply a couple of tired teams playing the second of back-to-back games trying to grind out whatever they could, which wasn’t much on a night when both goalies had their best stuff.
Cam Talbot returned to the nets for Edmonton after Mikko Koskinen’s win in Nashville and had a strong outing with 31 saves. At the other end of the ice the Oilers ran up against an old nemesis in goaltender Cam Ward, who still gives fans in Edmonton nightmares for his performance in the 2006 Stanley Cup final when he was with the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s in Chicago now, and still trying to make Edmonton fans miserable, making 24 saves in this one.
The Oilers improved to 6-3-1 on the season, 6-1-1 in their last eight and have taken points in four straight games.
BOXED OUT
While they are fifth in the NHL in penalty killing at home (90.9 per cent), the Oilers are 29th in the league on the road (64.7 per cent), so it makes sense to try to stay out of the box until they get it figured out.
They didn’t, though. Instead they took three minors in the first 10 minutes and fell behind 1-0 on a two-man advantage at 11:02. In all, they gave Chicago five power plays after giving Nashville six the night before.
They’ve given up seven power play goals in six road games and one power play goal in four home games.
ZACK IS BACK
Zack Kassian isn’t happy after being scratched in three of Edmonton’s first nine games and averaging less than 10 minutes on the fourth line when he has played.
That’s good. The last thing you want is a player who is content with being demoted.
He’s reportedly asked for a trade, but moving him when his value is low doesn’t make sense from the team’s perspective. In situations like these it’s on the player to work his way back up the ladder to either get more ice here or make him more attractive on the market.
He helped his cause a little Sunday with his first goal of the season. That’s a good start but it’s a going to be a consistency thing with him, as it will be with everyone.
The Oilers are on the verge of becoming a good team again and on good teams there is always competition for ice time, especially in the bottom half of the lineup. That’s just the way it goes.
STIFF UPPER LIP
Adam Larsson wore a full face shield Sunday to protect an ugly cut on his mouth after being hit with a puck Saturday in Nashville. His upper lip was basically cut in half from under his nose to the bottom of the lip itself and had to be stitched like a U — from the nose down on the outside, over the lip and then back up to the nose again on the inside.
“Adam is a tough guy,” said defence partner Oscar Klefbom. “Believe it or not he’s a tough Swede.”
THIS ’N’ THAT
Jesse Puljujarvi was a healthy scratch for the third straight game after putting up one point in his first seven starts … Rookie D Evan Bouchard sat out his second in a row … Saturday marked the second time this season Edmonton has given up a goal on the first shot of the game, although this one didn’t come until the 11:02 mark on a twoman advantage … Oscar Klefbom was breathing a sigh of relief after his giveaway at the Chicago blue line sent Nick Schmaltz in on a breakaway. Talbot bailed him out with a nice save … Ryan Nugent-Hopkins saw his three game point streak (one goal, four assists) come to an end.