So was this 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday night a blueprint for how the Edmonton Oilers should be playing—lots of shots, lots of goals—or was the laugher result lessened because they were basically playing against air?
Like the last seven games against the Penguins, who sadly just look old and slow these days with a low give-a-spit meter in games against the hungrier, faster Oilers, so much so they’ve outscored Pittsburgh 37 to 9 with seven straight Ws.
A week before Halloween, this was an 8-0 game masquerading as a 4-0 final. Only Pittsburgh goalie Joel Blomqvist, in his third career NHL start and valiantly facing 50 shots (33 in the first 33 minutes) kept this semi-respectable and kept the home fans in the seats at Rogers Place to stick around to watch Craig MacTavish and Randy Gregg’s names go up on the Oiler Wall of Fame after the game in a fine ceremony.
But, if this wasn’t a total blueprint of how the Oilers have to play because of the opponent, there were good signs. They came into the game averaging two goals a night and scored four with every Oiler but Adam Henrique and Derek Ryan getting a shot. They got a PP goal, from the second unit (Mattias Ekholm), they didn’t give up any shorthanded.
Viktor Arvidsson, who didn’t have a point in the first seven games, had three assists. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got his first goal. Vasily Podkolzin his first point, goalie Stu Skinner, his fifth career shutout. Zach Hyman didn’t score, but he was all around it, got an assist on Nugent-Hopkins’ goal on the first shift of the third and came close to a goal with a few ticks left in the last frame.
More on that a few paragraphs from now.
Maybe a blueprint for future success against better teams than Pittsburgh?
Well, it was a start, and only the second home win in six at Rogers Place.
“Well we had 50 shots and our defence was excellent, we back-tracked hard and made them chip it (in) and then we moved it (puck) up and got going again. That was the key part of our game,” said Arvidsson.
“Yeah, maybe we were due. Nice to see with all the shots but no goals (halfway through the game) that we didn’t get frustrated. Sometimes you start cheating the game, looking for more offence, opening it up more, add in an extra pass, but I thought we didn’t try to change things,” said Oiler coach Kris Knoblauch.
While Skinner made two big-time stops (slot) on Erik Karlsson, a shadow of his Norris trophy-winning years, and Noel Acciari (shorthanded pad), he still went 19 minutes without seeing a shot between Kevin Hayes’ 16-foot wrister in the ninth minute of the first frame to Acciari’s goalmouth effort eight minutes into the second period.
The Oilers had 21 straight shots on Blomqvist in that time.
But it was still 0-0, although Penguins coach Mike Sullivan probably wasn’t standing behind his bench and saying “great road game, guys” when the shots were 29-5.
“To be honest, I really wasn’t thinking much about myself until halfway through the second. I was just watching the other goalie. He was incredible, he was moving so well, huge kudos to him and how he battled,” said his lodge brother Skinner, who did get lucky just before Draisaitl’s goal, though.
“(Lars) Eller rang it off the crossbar and Leo’s went off the post and in…earlier in some games, shots were going post and in on me and we were hitting the iron and the pucks were bouncing out. Sometimes it’s luck of the draw,” he said.
Skinner could have pulled a La-Z-Boy into the crease and put his feet up between the Hayes and Acciari shots, with a big yawn. But, he wasn’t complaining much. He came into this one with a .890 save percentage and a 3.06 goal average but has now given up just three goals over his last two starts (Carolina and Pittsburgh).
“In my case, I was just trying to stay warm (so long between shots), keep moving, where you can feel the sweat on your body to cool you down a bit,” he said.
Arvidsson was Mr. Cool until he was pushed into the boards in the third on an icing play by Pens’ Marcus Pettersson (who should actually be a trade target for the Oilers because he’s UFA at $4 million and he’s an underrated defender, with long reach. Negligible offence but he’s quietly effective.)
Arvidsson was fine after hitting the boards hard but Pettersson absorbed several hard rights from Darnell Nurse, looking for several pounds of flesh a little later.
“I tried to beat the icing and he came in with a ton of speed…it’s also one of my best friends who’s behind me. I don’t think he meant to but there was a little shove in the back,” said Arvidsson, who saw his buddy then tangle with Nurse.
Is he a fighter? “I dunno. He stands up for himself. He’s done it before (he’s scrapped with Tom Wilson). I thought he did a good job, Nursie too,” said Arvidsson.
A visiting pro scout, who is a big Arvidsson fan, had watched the free-agent signee recently and didn’t think Arvidsson was doing his usual good, dogged job, though.
“I saw a small guy falling down a lot,” he said.
But there was no falling down on the job against the Penguins in his best Oilers game.
“I’m always a hard worker, trying to help the team win and tonight they went in (shots after his assists). Other nights they’ve been close and it hasn’t clicked,” he said.
“That’s the Viktor I know. He’s always the hardest worker out there…he’s a pain in the butt to play against,” said Ekholm, his friend from their days in Nashville. “Kudos to him, I thought had a really big night, even in the (face-off) circle when he got the puck right to me (for the screened PP last goal of the night). I think he’s getting more and more comfortable with his linemates.”
Maybe for the first time with his centre Draisaitl, who got the game’s first goal, a ripper off the right-side that banged off the post and in when the shots were 33-13, with Arvidsson setting the rush up ice with a nice play deep in the Oilers end.
“There was a little bit more room tonight so they could find each other,” said Knoblauch, “but their linemate Podkolzin…I’d give him a lot of credit too because he went to the net, and used his body to create more space. But obviously, there was chemistry with Leon and Arvy and we can build off that.”
Late in the game, Hyman, who had six shots, was on a 3-on-1 with Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, with the tic and a tac but no toe for last year’s 54-goal scorer.
“Yeah, they were looking for him but I’m glad he (Hyman) saved it for a game that’s tight. When it’s 4-zero, a fifth goal wouldn’t have made much difference (team result). He’s saving up for a big one (2-1 winner),” said Knoblauch.
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