Boy, is it ever nice to have hockey back. The Oilers kicked things off with a bang last night by sweeping their first pre-season games of the year, a split squad with the rival Calgary Flames.
Edmonton won their home tilt 4-2, as Anton Lander scored the game winning goal shorthanded and Nail Yakupov sealed it with an empty netter. In Calgary, Benoit Pouliot would cash in a Jordan Eberle feed for the game winner in the third, before Justin Schultz would seal the 3-1 decision with an empty netter of his own.
In Calgary:
The Oilers on the road actually played quite well, which is pretty surprising. Why? The Oilers sent arguably a weaker squad to Calgary, while the Flames elected to keep a majority of their top players at the Saddledome. According to Todd Cordell on twitter, the Oil beat the Flames in shot attempts by a 51-36 margin.
I really was impressed by Anders Nilsson, who was Edmonton’s best goalie in either game. Nilsson stopped all 17 shots he saw, including a penalty shot attempt by Michael Frolik in the middle frame. Ben Scrivens stopped 12 of 13 shots against and was solid too. No doubt, that is a good sign for Edmonton.
The team’s top-line of Pouliot, Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle was stellar in this game, creating numerous chances and eventually scoring the game winning goal. Oscar Klefbom looked okay by the eye, while I thought Justin Schultz played a pretty up and down game, something we saw a lot of last season.
Mark Letestu, one of the new additions, scored Edmonton’s first goal and played a pretty solid game overall. Nothing sexy from the veteran, but a pretty responsible night.
The big moment? Darnell Nurse fighting Hunter Smith and getting some really good shots in. Overall, Nurse looked okay on the night, a little inconsistent to me, but solid overall. His fight Vs. Smith is below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec9N0e009fQ
A few things on some players that didn’t stick out; Griffin Reinhart was quiet to me. That said, that’s a compliment for a defender, he didn’t make many mistakes that I saw and was steady overall, same for new defender Eric Gryba. Worth noting that Reinhart only played 15:56 in this game, seems like he was eased in a bit.
One final good sign from this game? The pairing of Darnell Nurse and Joey LaLeggia were tremendous possession wise. I can see these guys playing together a little bit down in Bakersfield this season, they compliment each other quite well.
In Edmonton:
Cam Talbot was inconsistent, looking spectacular at times and shaky at others. That said, Talbot was strong positionally to my eyes and while he let in a weak goal, I liked his game overall. Same goes for Laurent Brossoit, who played well outside of the first shot he faced, which was a great shot that beat him.
Connor McDavid played a solid game too, recording an assist on the tying goal and empty net goal to snag two points on the night. He was strong in the faceoff circle and played a sound defensive game too, this kid is going to be special.
Leon Draisaitl was very good as well, playing strong in the opening frame at center and finishing strong on the right wing with Hall and McDavid. His goal on the power-play ended up tying things up as well, strong showing by the sophomore forward.
Taylor Hall played well by what I heard, but was banged up late. Todd McLellan says it’s a minor bump/bruise so Oil Country can stop worrying on that front. Loved the overall game of Anton Lander as well, and I was impressed with Andrew Ference, who seems like he’s (somehow) in better shape and kept up just fine.
Best part? Andrej Sekera and Mark Fayne, as a pairing, seemed very steady to me in this game. Not many mistakes, just good hockey for the good guys while they were out there. If they can be a consistent pairing this season, Edmonton will be a much improved hockey club.
Winners:
Leon Draisaitl: Was great at center to start the home game and ended the night riding shotgun with Taylor Hall and Connor McDavid. He made the most of his chance with a goal as well, and he was dominant in the faceoff circle. Leon has the size and skill Edmonton needs, and last night he got a big push and cashed in on it.
Darnell Nurse: Great possession numbers and a momentum changing fight for his hockey club. Were there some mistakes in his game last night? Absolutely, but overall Nurse played pretty good. Darren Dreger mentioned on Monday he’s 50/50 to make the team, Monday’s performance helped him.
Anders Nilsson: Great KHL season in 2014-15 and a great Oiler debut on Monday. 17 saves and a massive game changer on a penalty shot. Nilsson made a statement in the battle to win the backup job in Edmonton.
Losers:
Nikita Nikitin: Slow, that’s the key word here. Nikitin was again beaten to multiple pucks and made some lazy plays last night. Unfortunately, he looked like the same Nikitin as last season. First pre-season game, but he needs to be much better as camp rolls forward.
Jujhar Khaira: Played only 9:34 for the team in Calgary and was a total non-factor. He’s a long shot to make the team this year anyways, but a strong camp would really help him moving forward. He needs to show some offense and he failed to show anything close to that in his first chance. Did have two shots on goal however, maybe a pulse.
Teddy Purcell: Was moved off the first line in the first pre-season game. I’d still like to see him there throughout camp, but it can’t be a good sign for him if he’s off that line just 40 minutes into exhibition play. What’s worse for Teddy? Leon Draisaitl looked very good in his spot.
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