CROSBY POTS WINNER IN OT
Oilers lose wild one at Rogers Place
Seven games into their 40th NHL season, the Edmonton Oilers are still a ‘Love Me, Love Me Not’ and ‘Glass-Half-Full, Glass-Half-Empty’ kind of hockey team. But at least the question remains up in the air.
On Tuesday night the Oilers overcome some wobbly defence and leaky goaltending through the first two periods to give themselves a chance to record their first victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in regulation since Jan. 10, 2006, the year the Oilers went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
But Sidney Crosby filed his argument for ‘World’s Best Hockey Player’ in the fan balloting that’s taken the NHL by storm of late.
This one required overtime. In his career, Crosby had never taken until the seventh game of the season to score a goal but on this night, he scored the first one and the last one in a 6-5 win to take two points out of Edmonton as usual and win the individual medley with Connor McDavid for the first time in their five meetings so far.
The back-to-back Art Ross and Ted Lindsay Award winner had a goal and an assist for the Oilers. In their previous headto-head games, McDavid had the edge on Crosby in goals and assists, but the Penguins defeated the Oilers on the scoreboard in each instance.
If the Oilers had won Tuesday night against Crosby and the Stanley Cup champions of two and three years ago, they’d be 4-3 on the young season.
As it is, they’re at 3-3-1, and left Rogers Place with the claim to fame of now having lost seven straight one-goal games to the Penguins. Most of the fan base that registered a 510th consecutive sellout last night to witness Crosby vs. McDavid had been braced for a possible disaster to start this season.
The Oilers, after seven games last year, were 2-5.
On the other hand, the year before, in their 103-point returnto the playoffs for the first time in a decade, they were 6-1 and about to go 7-1.
The Oilers accepted the ultimate challenge possible with a 20,029-kilometre road trip to start the season in Goteborg, Sweden and a Murderer’s Row schedule for openers that this week features the meat of it with Presidents’ Trophy Winner Nashville, Pittsburgh, Thursday’s visit by the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, followed by a game Saturday in Nashville against the Predators.
On Hockey Night in Canada last Saturday, the Predators showed Canada what an exceptional defensive team they could be as they kept McDavid off the scoresheet for the first time this year and registered a 3-0 win.
The Oilers played their most complete game of the year against the Preds, showing up to play their best first period of the year.
But a 5.2 for technical merit and a 4.0 for artistic impression don’t get you any flowers thrown on the ice.
Tuesday night was different because it was a ‘Stars Are Out’ game.
It was a night when a father wanted to take his son to the game so the kid could tell his grandchildren he once watched Crosby and Evgeni Malkin play against McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
It had been a less than engaged start to the season for Draisaitl until Tuesday evening, when he checked in with a second star performance that included two goals.
When fans complained about the need for some secondary scoring to go with McDavid’s hot start that has now stretched to 13 points in seven games, they would come to include Draisaitl in that.
But you wanted secondary scoring?
Alex Chiasson definitely counts.
A Stanley Cup champion last year with the Capitals who will be presented with his Stanley Cup ring when the Caps are here on Thursday, Chiasson scored two huge goals for the Oilers during a spell when the defence was wobbly and Cam Talbot was allowing four of the first 19 shots on goal.
Seven points in seven games is probably more than most people had predicted and projected at the start of the season.
But most customers left the rink last night still not convinced one way or the other about their hockey club.