Game Day 30: Oilers vs Sabres
NHL analysts are divided on whether or not the Edmonton Oilers have turned things around or whether it’s still too early to tell.
But there’s a lot of optimism arising from the fact that the Edmonton Oilers have played solid defensive hockey in six out of the last seven games, and saw their elite puck possession game finally come together in the team’s most recent two games, a 9-4 win over Seattle and a 6-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
Said Spittin’ Chiclets podcaster and former Oilers play Ryan Whitney as the Oilers beat Winnipeg: “All the Oilers haters are silent tonight. They always start slow and then run through the league the last 50 games. The run has begun.”
And Hall of Fame sportswriter Terry Jones: “Oilers win it 6-2. Let bells ring out and banners fly. Two-game winning streak.”
And Edmonton hockey podcaster Kevin McCurdy: “This team for the last two games has been everything that we’ve been missing for weeks. Hard not to be pretty damn excited about what we’re watching.”
And TSN’s Ryan Rishaug, after the first period of the Jets game, “Dominating period of hockey from the Oilers who’ve exploded offensively since being shut out by the Wild. McDavid is in hyper speed tonight. Group seems to be getting some of its mojo back recently.”
And former NHLer and NHL network analyst Jason Demers: “Here comes the Edmonton Oilers right on Queue 🫡🫡”
But on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer, Oilers legend Craig MacTavish sounded a cautious note: ” I think the jury is still out on how good this team can be. And, you know, they’ve had some good games against Seattle, who are clearly going to fall out of it based on the way that they’ve played the last little while. And, you know, Winnipeg is struggling to a certain degree… So I still think the jury’s out on how good this team can be. We need to see them play really well against some elite competition before we can say confidently that they’ve overcome that poor start.”
Coach 29 games
My take
1. My heart says Whitney is right, but my head says MacTavish is right.
The Oilers did in the last two games what the team regularly has done in the past few seasons, dominate with puck possession, limit ugly defensive breakdowns and crush the other team when it comes to Grade A and 5-alarm shots differential.
But Seattle and Winnipeg are trending down fast right now. And the last few times the Oilers played the toughest teams in the Western Conference, Colorado and Dallas, Edmonton got smoked. It was ugly. It was embarrassing.
2. There’s also the fact that despite the recent improvement, the Oilers overall Grade A shots, 5-alarm shots and goals differentials align and say one thing just now: this has been a mediocre hockey team for the first third of the NHL season.
This team has some baggage. It’s got some proving to do.
Perhaps we should keep our power dry and not proclaim the Oilers have rediscovered the secret sauce to winning until they are close in a game to one of those two teams.
Grade A 29 games
At the Cult of Hockey
STAPLES: Edmonton Oilers discover there’s no chemistry like old chemistry
STAPLES: Knoblauch always knew what was wrong with his Oilers — now he’s fixed it