In a game-turning play, Pittsburgh's Conor Sheary raps Sidney Crosby's perfect feed past Cam Talbot. | Greg Southam / Postmedia
Penguins 3, Oilers 2
Did Edmonton Oilers find a new way to lose on Wedensday night, or just revisit a few old ones? The Oilers largely matched the Stanley Cup champions stride for stride in a back-and-forth affair, but for the fourth time in four meetings between Sidney Crosby’s Penguins and Connor McDavid’s Oilers, it was the flightless waterfowl who escaped with a one-goal win. In regulation this time, 3-2, leaving the Oilers nothing to show for what was largely a good effort in an excellent, if ultimately frustrating, hockey game.
Unfortunately, it was more of the same in several important ways.
- For the second straight game, the “TSN Turning Point” happened in the dying seconds of a period when a young defenceman got trapped out of the play miles from his own net to allow an odd-man rush and a critical goal against.
- In what seems like a season-long fail, Edmonton’s special teams let the side down badly, failing to muster a single scoring chance on a pair of third period powerplays, then getting sliced open for the game-winner in under 20 seconds when the inevitable even-up call came. In a game where nothing was decided at even strength — all 36 skaters in the game had an “even” plus-minus — the special teams were the difference and Edmonton’s were second best. Again.
- As usual, the Oilers outshot and outchanced (log and summary) the other guys, but also as usual the opposing netminder was one of the game stars as Edmonton’s almighty struggle to produce meaningful offence continues unabated. Matt Murray couldn’t stop a beachball in Winnipeg Sunday, but has shut the Oilers down twice in a week with outstanding performances.
- Edmonton received scoring contributions from the usual suspects: McDavid 2 points; RNH, Maroon, Draisaitl 1 each. And exactly bupkis from the rest of the gang, a.k.a. The Usual Suspects, uppercase edition.
- And for the sixth straight game the Oilers found themselves tied after two periods. They have harvested just five points from those situations rather than the expected eight or so when one takes the NHL’s cockamamie points system into account. They can hardly expect better, having been outscored by a combined 7-3 in those six third periods.
This failure when the game is on the line is bleeding costly points. At the moment the locals find themselves languishing in 30th place overall, and the hypothetical climb back into contention gets steeper by the day. Good effort, sure, but the time for moral victories has long since passed, especially on home ice where the Oilers’ record has sunk to 2-5-0.
#4 Kris Russell, 6. Found himself back on the right side with Auvitu and turned in a solid, low-event night. During his 11 even strength minutes the Oilers outshot the Pens 6-2, with Russell himself blocking 4 shots. He also contributed a minute-long shift, and a dandy, during the Oilers’ long 3v5 penalty kill in the second period. Made a couple of heady plays to keep the puck in at the offensive blueline.
#6 Adam Larsson, 4. Was drilled by Sidney Crosby in the opening seconds and his night got tougher from there. Was mostly solid, but was unable to cut out a pair of critical passes in odd-man situations, one from Crosby to Sheary on the game-tying goal, the other from Kessel to Malkin on the game-winner. Those are ace passers, of course, but with all the practice Larsson gets as the last man back one might expect him to cut out the occasional killer pass with a killer defensive stop. Led the defence corps with 3 shots, 2 hits, and 30 shifts, seeing a bellyful of Crosby in the process.
#18 Ryan Strome, 4. A couple of shots and decent flow-of-play metrics, but this was yet another game Oilers desperately needed a morsel of offence from the bottom six and got the usual nothing. A crummy 2/11=18% on the dot.
#19 Patrick Maroon, 5. Not his most graceful performance, highlighted by an epic toe pick that sent the big man crashing to the ice all on his own. Did make a nice centring pass to RNH for the 1-1 tally, and teed up Nurse’s bomb off the post. Came within an ace of tying it in the last minute with Talbot on the bench, only to be flat out robbed by Murray’s outstretched pad.
#25 Darnell Nurse, 5. This is a tough one. He did a lot right in his first game on the shutdown pairing with Larsson, including some strong defensive stands, some nice contributions offensively, and an absolute bomb that rang the iron like a bell. But two major mistakes spoiled his night: the slashing penalty that put the Oilers down two men for 1:42 (his teammates had his back that time), and his major positional error that was a key component in that killer tying goal in the dying seconds of the middle frame. At other times jumping into the rush might not be a bad idea, but in this situation it sure was. In large part because of the guy he left in the rearview on his way up ice, Crosby, who made Nurse and the Oilers pay an immediate heavy price when the play went the other way. And instead of taking a lead into the second intermission for the first time since (ahem) October 4, the game took on a new, darker tone. Call it an error of enthusiasm, but to this observer it was also an error of judgement.
#26 Iiro Pakarinen, 4. The usual honest effort and the usual nothing to show for it. Most noticeable moment was when he blew a tire in top gear and crashed heavily into the end boards. 7 minutes, 0 shots.
#27 Milan Lucic, 4. Was stong in the early going with a couple of big hits and a fine scoring chance on a spinaround backhand try after a strong rush. But gradually became less noticeable as the night wore on.
#29 Leon Draisaitl, 6. Scored the 2-1 goal by converting a brilliant McDavid feed, but got burned on the tying goal when he tried but failed to cover for Nurse. 6 shot attempts to lead the forwards. Took a team-high 17 faceoffs, winning 11 for a 65% success rate; remarkably, all 17 of those draws were against Crosby. Alas, one of the lost draws led to Pittsburgh’s first goal, on the powerplay. Made a great defensive play against a 2-on-1 with the Oilers’ net empty to prevent a clinching goal, which led to one more glorious Edmonton chance in the dying seconds.
#33 Cam Talbot, 6. He was sharp early and outstanding on that long 3v5 penalty kill. Had little chance on Hornqvist’s deflection or Connor Sheary’s finish of Corsby’s feed. But the winner had a bit of odour to it; tough to stop Evgeni Malkin from prime scoring territory, obviously, but this was something of a knucklepuck that found a hole which shouldn’t really exist, between the arm and body on the glove side. Just a little crack, but when the goalie at the other end was stopping everything — as Murray was in the last 30 minutes — it was a save Oilers had to have, and didn’t get. 30 shots, 27 saves, .900 save percentage.
#44 Zack Kassian, 4. Took a foolish penalty for handling the puck illegally during a line change (“interference”, they called it). Emerged from the box two (nervous) minutes later to accept McDavid’s breakaway pass, but failed to convert the glorious chance before ingloriously crashing into the boards. Too much time, too many moves on what would have been a crusher of a goal at the end of a failed Pittsburgh 5 on 3. Was a conspicuous piece of the Maginot Line penalty kill unit that yielded Malkin’s game winner.
#55 Mark Letestu, 5. Of his 12½ minutes, 5 were on the powerplay, but he failed to generate a single shot on net. Was involved in the buildup to the two golden chances in the final minute. 7/10=70% on the dot.
#56 Kailer Yamamoto, 4. Had by far his greatest impact when he drew two penalties (holding, tripping) against the same opponent (Jake Guentzel) on the same play, leading — eventually — to RNH’s powerplay goal nearly the full four minutes later. Otherwise, no shots, no shot attempts, and no involvement in scoring chances unless you count that one giveaway that Ryan Rust bombed just wide.
#58 Anton Slepyshev, 5. Did some good work along the boards and won a few puck battles in the process, especially in the o-zone. Once again his line had a plus shot share, which is good in theory but not so much in results. Had 0 shots on goal, and continues to sport 0 points on the season.
#77 Oscar Klefbom, 6. A reasonable bounceback game paired with Benning, Edmonton’s top pair by ice time. 23 minutes of that accrued to Klefbom, including a team-high 6:36 on the powerplay. Had 10 shot attempts, most on the team, 3 of which managed to make it through and test Murray. He was burned a little on the first Penguins goal when he failed to close down Hornqvist’s tip, though Oscar gets a bit of a pass here in that he blocked a shot (1 of 4) a couple seconds earlier which left him on the limp for the crucial moments.
#81 Yohann Auvitu, 5. Neither the problem nor the solution.
#83 Matt Benning, 6. One of the underlying signs that is bubbling under is the improved play of Benning, who exceeded 20 minutes (21:37) for the first time all season with his new partner Klefbom. Fired 5 more shots on net and now has 15 over the past 3 games. Absorbed a wicked slash on the wrist that somehow went undetected by a nearby zebra, but applied some ice and came back for more. A highlight moment was a terrific play where he raced back to a puck that had been cleared to the Edmonton blueline, and instantly fired a spinaround pass that found a free teammate at the offensive blueline to expose a scrambling Penguins line change. Good hustle, good awareness, and good execution is a nice combination in my books.
#91 Drake Caggiula, 5. Is doing a lot of things right even as he remains among the multitudes with 0 points on the season. Not for want of trying. He had 5 shots, 2 takeaways and was in the middle of things frequently. His passing touch left a bit to be desired, as a few well-intentioned passes went through sticks or didn’t connect. Spent 57 seconds on the PK and was on the ice for both Pittsburgh goals, notably on the Malkin goal where his neutral zone stance was no defence against the big Russian.
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. Another tough one to judge. Played an energetic game, scored his fifth goal of the season to tie for the team league, and came within an ace of scoring his sixth to tie the actual game in the dying seconds. Dominated on the dot (10/14=71%). On the downside, was in the box for both Pittsburgh powerplay goals, once for a careless high-stick, the other for a highly-debatable interference call that set the stage for the game winner. No doubt many fans were sour at the ref for a pretty bogus call, that said experienced fans like this one had to sense the “even-up” call was coming after two Edmonton powerplays earlier in the third. Not saying it’s right, just that it is. Just need to bear down and kill the darn penalty, and Oilers couldn’t kill 20 seconds let alone two minutes.
#97 Connor McDavid, 7. Was outplayed by Crosby in the first, but bounced back with a strong second frame that saw him set up both Oilers goals in a span of 50 seconds. The first was nothing special, but the second was a beauty, as McDavid pounced on a loose puck that had caromed off the referee, made a dazzling move to deke the defenceman and take the puck to the net, then feed the backhand sauce Draisaitl’s way for the finish. Relatively quiet in the third, with just one scoring chance in the opening seconds (on a spectacular rush at warp speed, mind) but then no chances or shots the rest of the way. Played 22:52 to lead all forwards, 5/12=42% in the faceoff circle, 2 shots, 3 takeaways. The best of the Oilers, as usual, but needed to be a wee bit better for the home team to pull this one off.
Source: edmontonjournal
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