It was the minute of hockey fans of both teams had been waiting for. With Edmonton Oilers leading Colorado Avalanche 3-1 in the seventh minute of the third period, Mattias Ekholm and Chris Wagner engaged in an altercation that landed both men in the penalty box with coincidental minors. Into the 4-on-4 manpower situation that ensued stepped some of the biggest stars the two sides could muster, indeed, some of the biggest stars in the sport.
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A pair of former first overall draft picks, Nathan MacKinnon (2013) and Connor McDavid (2015), future Hall of Famers both at the height of their powers. Two other top five draft picks in Leon Draisaitl (2014 #3) and Cale Makar (2017 #4), established superstars who would likely go at the top of their class in the fantasy world of the “redraft”. They too are bound for the Hall. Scattered around them, three other top-ten draft picks in Darnell Nurse (2013 #7), Valeri Nichuskin (2013 #10) and Evan Bouchard (2018 #10). Only a single long shot in Devon Toews (2014 #108) who long since has blossomed into one of the finest rearguards in the game.
Fans pressed forward to the edge of their seats (or sofas for those of us back at home) to watch a thrilling high-paced minute of… not very much.
Which from an Edmonton perspective, was just fine. Did I mention the Oilers were leading 3-1? The Avs did take the puck into Oilers territory and zip it around, trying to find a weakness. But they couldn’t. McDavid and Draisaitl each marked their man well, switched off when appropriate, kept the play to the outside. Nurse and Bouchard took care of the net front. Colorado didn’t so much as attempt a shot before eventually McDavid stopped Makar along the wall, Draisaitl took possession and zipped a breakout pass to Bouchard on the far wing, and the Oilers controlled play for the rest of the shift. Eventually McDavid fired a wild shot into the netting, the whistle blew, and the minute had past. Edmonton still led 3-1, a lead they continued to maintain until Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sealed the deal with an empty net goal with 92 seconds to play.
It was a rare night where the Oilers found a way to win without the two main men driving the bus offensively. Playing in the Mile High City the night after both had played north of 23 minutes in Utah, McDavid had just 1 assist, albeit a brilliant one, while Draisaitl was held off the scoresheet.
How rare is rare? Here’s a full accounting of Oilers victories on the season, now at 13 and counting.
Until last night, one or the other had scored at least one of Edmonton’s goals in every winning effort. Since McDavid returned from injury in early November, both guys had scored in 5 of 6 wins, combining for a ridiculous 14 goals and 30 points in those games. On the season, Draisaitl had played in all 13 wins, scoring 13 goals and 13 assists and recording a superb +23 in those games. McDavid had played in 11, producing 9-14-23 with +16. The straws that stirred the drink.
Both men played well in Colorado, with each a plus player though without the usual gaudy point totals. Instead, the scoring heroes came from down the line-up.
Two of them were featured here at the Cult of Hockey just the other day. Vasily Podkolzin was referred to an “Plan B” on the wings, Kasperi Kapanen as “Plan C”. Both were acquired on the cheap by Stan Bowman, Podkolzin for a fourth-round pick in mid-August, Kapanen for free off the waiver wire not a fortnight ago. As injuries hit several of the squad’s top wingers, both were given a chance within the top six. So far, both have proven to be up to the task, never more so than on Saturday night when they scored the 2 goals Edmonton needed most.
Kasperi Kapanen
First it was Kapanen who tied the score 1-1 about 5 minutes after another depth player, Mikolai Kovalenko (son of former Oiler Andrei “The Tank” Kovalenko) opened the scoring for the Avs. The replay certainly shows another work of art from the scintillating McDavid, but it also shows Kapanen doing what Oilers wingers have struggled to do so far this year: finding some soft ice near the net, putting his stick on the ice in position to receive a pass, then making no mistake in slamming it home. His first as an Oiler at a most opportune moment for both player and team.
It was Kapanen’s only shot on goal of the night, though he had some good moments both possessing and passing the puck. He also he did some good work on the defensive side of things, leading the team in hits (3) and blocked shots (2). Through 4 games he has scored a respectable 1-1-2 at even strength and his tiny samples lead the forwards in both hits per 60 and takeaways per 60. To this early point he resembles a man given a new lease on life who is seizing the day.
Vasily Podkolzin
Some 22 minutes of game time later, it was Podkolzin who broke that 1-1 tie with the goal that put Edmonton ahead to stay and indeed stood up as the game winner. This replay shows #92 establishing position at the net front and creating traffic as first Draisaitl, then Troy Stecher fired shots on net. After the second of those Podkolzin collected the rebound, took it to good ice behind the icing line, fed the disc to Draisaitl, and immediately eluded his man to head back to the net front where he made a superb mid-air deflection of Stecher’s point shot into the top corner. Just a terrific sequence from the 23-year-old, himself a former top-10 overall draft pick.
For Podkolzin it was the feature moment of an excellent night. Edmonton dominated possession on his watch, outshooting the Avs 10-1 with a 99% (!) expected goal share. To my eye some of his best work occurred in defensive situations: a fine play to strip MacKinnon of the puck in the d-zone, followed by another battle with the same opponent where he simply neutralized MacKinnon’s stick allowing a teammate in strong support position to collect the loose puck. Smart, strong, effective. At night’s end Podkolzin was named the game’s second star, an earned honour in my view.
His rise to prominence has been fun to follow. As the season extended deep into its second month and the player still hadn’t scored a single goal even when frequently paired with Draisaitl, he had nonetheless won a lot of fans who valued his other attributes including physicality, a related ability to bang the boards effectively and feed pucks out to Draisaitl, his defensive conscience and competence, and an emerging role on the penalty kill. He finally lit the lamp against the Rangers on a one-timer to open both the scoring and the floodgates in an Oilers win. Next game he started Edmonton’s comeback at Utah with a hard shot off a 2-on-1 rush, a tally that kickstarted another victory. Then the tie-breaking game-winner at Colorado to spark yet a third straight win. Not a cheap goal among them, collectively earned through two months of steadily improving play that finally cashed in a gusher of goals.
Here’s some statistical evidence to support that observation, namely Podkolzin’s season-to-date split into 6-game blocks.
Note the steady increase in ice time as the player has continued to win his coach’s trust. With that, an upward trend in the plus/minus column, and the recent eruption on the boxcar front. He’s been a physical influence throughout — the Colorado game was his first of the 24 where he wasn’t credited with a hit — while his shot totals came off the floor to a pace approaching 2 per game.
For all the hard play he’s done a good job of staying out of the sin bin, incurring just 3 penalties all season: an unlucky double-minor for high-sticking at Nashville; a major for a major-league fight against tough Jeremy Lauzon, also at Nashville; and a lone tripping penalty in a home game vs. Minnesota.
So what happens when injured forwards return?
Podkolzin had already established himself on Draisaitl’s wing before either of Viktor Arvidsson or Zach Hyman got banged up, indeed the line was Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson for a while. His once-tenuous position has become more secure with his recent fine play. The distant prospect of Evander Kane‘s eventual return is apt to be a tougher test for the emerging power forward. For now he plays a heavy game that is a welcome complement to the rest of the forward group.
But when Hyman returns, possibly as soon as Tuesday at Vegas, Kapanen’s cameo on the first line is surely in jeopardy. His addition since the injury bug took hold has added another contract to the mix, albeit a reasonable one. Is there a spot for him further down the line-up? In the short run, if just Hyman returns, it seems certain that recent call-up Drake Caggiula will be the odd man out, with Kapanen a good bet to assume a spot in the bottom six.
At such time as Arvidsson returns and all hands are on deck, though, will it make sense for the Oilers to simply dispose of the player the same way they acquired him?
From this distance he is already engaged in a battle with Caggiula’s current mates on the fourth line, namely Derek Ryan and Corey Perry. Both veterans are here for a reason and have their uses, but as the old saying goes, Father Time is undefeated. There will come a day when management’s loyalty to specific players is tested in the long view of the greater good.
In the meantime, kudos to Stan Bowman for finding a couple of $1 million depth players who have helped out in the short term and who have raised the level of competition for playing time on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.
Recently at the Cult of Hockey
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