Instead of blowing out the candles on a cake, it looked like Leon Draisaitl would have to spend his birthday explaining how the Edmonton Oilers blew another game.
The Oilers didn’t just limp into Sunday’s tilt with the Detroit Red Wings, they rolled in a coffin, showing zero signs of life in a first period that should have been the end of them.
“We got outplayed quite badly,” admitted Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. “We only gave up 13 shots, but the shot attempts were 28. If you give up 28 shot attempts in 20 minutes, all five on five, you’re not doing much.”
They weren’t doing anything. If not for goaltender Calvin Pickard, the Oilers would have been doomed. Instead, they were only down 1-0 at the first intermission.
“We didn’t make it easy on ourselves after the first, but I just had that feeling we were going to score and tie it up,” said Pickard, who stopped 12 of 13 shots in the opening period. “We took over and played really well in the second and third.”
That’s when Draisaitl began the celebrations. He scored the tying goal to make it 1-1 in the second period, assisted on the tying goal to make it 2-2 in the third, and then he put the icing on his own cake by scoring the winning goal 18 seconds into overtime.
“All around great night,” grinned the 29-year-old. “Great win for us. It’s always nice to come back in a game like that and find your game and start the road trip off right.”
Draisaitl now has six goals and four assists in nine games while the Oilers improved to .500 (4-4-1) for the first time this season.
“He was unreal,” said Pickard. “I don’t know where to start with him. He was all over pucks, finding guys, shooting the puck, and got rewarded for it. He deserved that.
“Leon was great. He’s one of the best players in the world for a reason and it was fun to watch tonight.”
Some thoughts:
Slow starts
The Oilers have never been a team that likes to start on time.
Whether it’s a season, a game, or even a Stanley Cup Final, they have this bad habit of easing their way into things.
Sunday in Detroit was no different. They gave up a goal on the first shot of the game. They were outshot 10-1 through the first 12 minutes and the shot attempts after 20 minutes were 28-13 Detroit.
It’s part of their trend. They’ve managed just three first-period goals in nine games this year.
If not for Pickard, this game might have slipped away from them before the first intermission. They took control from the second period on and found a way to win, but the sluggish starts are something they need to address.
Goal drought
Edmonton came into the game second-last in the NHL in goals per game (2.25) and were held to two or fewer goals in five of their previous eight games. They lost all five.
They struggled for offence again on Sunday. But when this game was up for grabs, the big dogs ate.
“You often win when your best players are your best players,” said Knoblauch. “And our guys stepped up and made some key plays tonight.”
It’s huge that the top end of this roster is finding its groove — of Edmonton’s last 10 goals over four games, Draisaitl has four and McDavid and Bouchard have two each. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mattias Ekholm have the other two.
That’s a good sign, but until Edmonton gets the power play going (currently 27th in the league) and the secondary scoring comes to life, and Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson find some offensive consistency, goals will be hard to come by. That means more pressure on their team defence and penalty kill, which is currently dead last in the NHL at 58.3.
Finding a way
This is not last year’s team.
This year’s version of the Oilers is not the dominant powerhouse that finished 45-15-5 down the stretch last year and rammed its way to the Cup final. This team remains a work in progress.
Right now the Oilers are average at best. Slightly below average, if you go by standings and statistics rather than expectations. But they’re finding ways to win. And at 4-1-1 in their last six games they seem to be gaining a little momentum after an 0-3 start to the season.
They have holes and flaws right now — all you have to do is look at the power play, penalty kill, offensive and defensive statistics to see that. But they’re in there swinging. Literally. Whether it’s Corey Perry or Darnell Nurse dropping the gloves to spark their teammates or Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard keeping them alive when the team is drowning in its own end, the Oilers are grinding out points pointing things in the right direction.
“There’s a lot of belief,” said Pickard. “We know how to win games, we just have to keep doing it.”
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